Exonians Reflect on Summer Experiences

By: NATALY DELCID, LAUREN KIM, and CATHERINE WU

After graduation in early June, Exonians and faculty members departed campus to begin their summer journeys. Whether they spent them relaxing on vacation or chasing their passions at academic or athletic programs, Exonians enjoyed the well-deserved break from fast-paced life at the Academy.

Besides attending music programs or training for a sport, older Exonians also spent their free time committing to jobs or getting their driver’s license. Additionally, many began studying for their SATs and writing their application essays with deadlines just around the corner. Alternately, incoming Exonians utilized this time to prepare for their first year at the Academy. As COVID-19 restrictions loosened for the first time since 2020, many students also used this summer as an opportunity to uncover new travel destinations around the globe.

Students commented on summer vacation plans. “I got really tired of going to all my sister’s tournaments all the time for basketball,” prep Rebecca Nguyen said. “So I flew out by myself to go to Utah to visit one of my best friends and all her friends there. Utah was really fun because we’re very outdoor-sy people and got to hike and mountain bike, go on boats and stuff like that.”

Similarly, upper Zuzanna Szul noted her travels, “This summer I went back to Poland. I also participated in internships and did some off season training.”

Many Exonians noted traveling with family. “I traveled to Australia for six weeks to visit my family in Melbourne,” senior Jesalina Phan said. “It had been five years since I had seen them because of COVID, so I was super excited. We were super busy having large family parties, going out to the city with the cousins, and taking a road trip to the hot springs, which is a tradition of ours. My mom, brother, and I were staying with my mom’s sister (my aunt) and my cousins, so there was never a dull moment!”

“My summer was great,” upper Advay Nomula added. “I saw some family in India and stayed there for two months. I attended my uncle’s marriage and also learned a lot about the culture and religious principles. I did some SAT prep as well.”

Prep Shawna Jiang said, “I moved around a lot with family, because we are living in South Africa but relocated to Egypt, then moved to L.A. to drop my brother off at Thatcher, and now here.”

“In general, I had pretty good food [this summer],” lower Davido Zhang said. “It was really nice. We visited my hometown, got back to a lot of different places– I was continuously traveling. Since I had to quarantine in China, which wasn’t so great, I had enough time to finish my math acceleration, just staying in the hotel in my room. A highlight from this summer was just that I got to enjoy so much authentic Chinese food that I didn’t get the chance to eat in the US.”

“We went to Prague,” Señor Perez said. “One of the very interesting things that I found impressive was one of the synagogues that I visited (Pinkas Synagogue). They had all these lists of names of people from all over the world, for people who died from the Holocaust.”

“I took a few day trips down to Santa Cruz and I slept a lot and ate a lot of good food,” upper Sarah Sargent shared. “I also worked out quite a bit and spent a good chunk of time just hanging out with friends and spending time with my relatives.”

“It was really fun, I spent a lot of much needed time relaxing and de-stressing from the daily life of Exeter. I also kept in contact with my friends through social media,” reflected senior Cindy Su. “This summer I ran into a lot of other Exeter students at summer camp and it was really fun to see them.”

For Phan, her summer meant traveling with her orchestra, playing violin. “I went to Greece on a two-week tour with my orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra,” shared Phan. “It was the first time I had ever traveled without my parents, and I had the best time.We traveled to a new city every two days to play concerts at various indoor and outdoor venues, but the whole experience-— eating huge plates of souvlaki and gyros, walking around the Parthenon, meeting locals who showed us around— was very memorable,” Phan continued.

Upper Jane Park, who also toured with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Greece, added, “I spent my summer after the Greece tour with the National Youth Orchestra (NYO). We had a three week residency in Miami, upstate New York, and then New York City. The program concluded in a concert in Carnegie Hall. I was able to learn an incredible amount about leadership in an orchestra, and I also met lifelong friends. I would then apply as leader at the school orchestra.”

Several students, including upper Atishay Jain, commented on summer programs and ramping demands. “I did a couple of internships, some shadowing, and also went to India for a bit. This summer was definitely busier because it was [going into] upper year and our workload increased.”

“My summer was very good,” upper Neil Varwandakar shared. “I went to Germany and did business with the Exeter summer program. It was a very good experience.”

Prep Victoria Vanderslice pursued her interests in law and U.S. history with international summer programs. 

“I had originally planned to spend three weeks at a CTY camp studying ‘The Great Cases of American History’, but it unfortunately got canceled at the last minute due to staffing issues after the pandemic. I had been so looking forward to learning more about crucial Supreme Court decisions and how they affected the society we see today, but I made it up by going to a ‘future career’ camp I found in London,” said Vanderslice. “I was given the choice to study a particular career during my time there and decided to study law. Guest lawyers would come to our classroom and talk about the field that they specialized in, like criminal law, corporate law, and family law.”

Back on campus, Japanese Instructor and Exeter Summer faculty member Kayoko Tazawa reflected on her experience as an Abbot Hall faculty member during Exeter Summer. 

“I’ve been out of the dorm for over 10 years now,” said Tazawa, “and it was nice to work in a dorm again, because you connect with students on a different level. That reminded me how fun it is to do dorm duty, especially with the younger Access Exeter students.”

Many uppers commented on their SAT prep in addition to summer plans. “I had a good summer. I primarily studied for my SAT, but also got the chance and went back to Minnesota to visit some friends from my hometown,” upper Jonny Chen said.

“I worked on SAT prep and I think I prepared pretty well,” upper William Lu shared. “Though I didn’t hit my goal, it was close enough. Having SAT prep made this summer less-so of a ‘real break.’ I also took some classes, and the pressure was definitely on coming into upper year. But I still managed to make the best out of my summer and not get overwhelmed.”

Some new students shared their studying in preparation for the coming school year. “I did physics because I knew I was going to take it this year,” Nguyen said. “I also did a bunch of reading for leisure, but I tried not to get myself too overwhelmed to a point where I would ruin my summer.”

Overall, Exonians feel well-rested after their summer, and are ready to apply the knowledge gained over the summer into everyday Academy life. 

“I had a great time at the program and it was the highlight of my summer! I really hope to bring these skills to Exeter, especially at the Harkness table,” says Vanderslice. 

“I think I spent a lot of time being reflective and thinking about the things I’m grateful for at Exeter. I came back into this year like I’m gonna take advantage of every opportunity to spend with my friends and I’m really excited about being fully back in person and having no mask restrictions indoors,” Su concluded.