Summarizing Summer 2025

Question: What’s something new you did over the summer?

“One new thing I did over the summer was visit Europe for the first time, specifically Rome. This recent trip let me see the culture of Rome, such as the big sights like the Colosseum and the nearby St. Peter’s Basilica, and the smaller details like the public transportation of the country. This trip additionally strengthened my dislike of slow tourists.” —Nathan Wu, junior 

“This summer was an odd one for me. The last few summers of my life, I always had a clear direction of what the next two months off from school were going to look like—prep classes and misery. This was the first summer where I didn’t have everything laid out for me, and I couldn’t [have been] more glad about that! Because of my newfound freedom, I was able to dedicate my time to a youth organization I joined earlier this spring; via that organization, I participated [in] the High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations. Through this event, I connected with hundreds of youth from across the globe at the UNHQ. I met people who lived in war, survived extreme poverty, survived genocide—the list goes on. Before my own eyes, I saw how people, including youth my age, were able to rise up from disadvantage and fight against it.” —Sara Mostafa, sophomore

“I went on a CIEE program.” —Nicole Lui, sophomore

“I read some Spec articles for the first time,

and DeltaMath hit me like a truck.” —Eamonn Ryan, sophomore

“I started playing finger style guitar after just playing chords for two years. I also started doing those coloring scratch things.” —Sabrina Nurullaeva, sophomore 

“All I really did was prep for the SAT and get a job.” —Raymond Huang, junior 

“This summer, I went to Color Me Mine and painted pottery for the first time. It was so much fun; I can’t wait to go back and do it again.” —Mira Gupta, senior

“I’ve been running a lot more during this summer.” —Thomas Choi, senior

“Something new I did was debate camp with the NYPDL! It was really fun to learn from debaters who were so experienced and accomplished.” —Sophie Wong, sophomore

“Something new I did over the summer was volunteer at a summer school for first and second [graders]. It was a really interesting experience since I hadn’t worked with kids that young, and it helped me understand more about their development and school [curricula].” —Haley Huang, sophomore

“I learned how to swim, which is inconvenient since I still need to take swim gym this year.” —Sara Bhuiyan, sophomore

“I definitely started going outside more this summer, especially with my friends and family.” —Gunjori Saha, sophomore

“I went bowling three times this summer. It’s $10 for two hours of unlimited play.” —Bihan Liu, senior

“I stewarded and pruned 600+ trees this summer, which meant picking up a lot of dog poop. I also learned to make maps using GIS!” —Sarah Zou, senior

“I learned how to do a frontflip this summer!” —Amelie Rhew, junior

“I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet this summer—I’ve literally never done that.” —Samia Mimo, junior

“This summer, my family and I visited France, as that’s where some of my extended family lives. Although there is a language barrier, my cousins and I were still able to connect and bond with each other. With one of my cousins, the way we did this was by singing love songs to each other. She pulled up songs, most of which were sung by Bruno Mars, on Spotify with their lyrics, and we sang them karaoke-style to each other. Although this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen my cousins, this was the first time that we got the opportunity to spend time with each other in that way. The romantic lyrics we sang to each other may not be true, but the bond we formed is.” —Emily Wong, junior

“This summer, I went on my first full ropes course in a long time. It was super fun, and [my friends and I] were able to conquer the toughest course there.” —Nathaniel Moy, junior

“Although I had lost many opportunities right before summer started, I did my best to get back on my feet. Personally, I think I did a pretty good job, as on August 21, I was invited to the UN to participate and deliver a speech as a special guest at a cultural roundtable regarding the usage of AI, art, & culture in supporting the UN’s 17 SDGs. It was truly an amazing, nonetheless harrowing, experience having the honor to represent the city’s entire high school population.” —Juan Ochoa Bravo, junior

“As someone [who] enjoys doomscrolling, this summer I decided to take a breather and step away from my phone. Outside of my usual frisbee and dance rotation, I learned how to play gonggi! For days, my friends and I crowded around during lunch breaks, determined to conquer the infamous fifth level: flipping the stones onto the back of our hand and catching them once again. We managed quite a few times! By the end of the summer, what had started as a one-person challenge had turned into a group goal, each of us venturing into K-Town to buy our own sets of stones and master the game of gonggi.” —Milan Gittens, junior