Along with summer come later sunsets, fireflies and an abundance of downtime for students. With this downtime, students are free to explore a variety of activities and places they are unable to during school weeks.

Senior Kyrsten Le used this time to immerse herself in a unique exercise.

“My favorite summer activity is hiking because it’s a lot cooler in the mountains, and the view makes everything worth it,” Le said. “It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family. I really like Pisgah Forest and Hanging Rock.”

Others adventured in familiar places like senior Sarah Brooks Daniel before she moved to North Carolina this summer.

“My best moment was probably when my closest friends kidnapped me the day before my move to North Carolina at five in the morning to go watch the sunrise. They took me to this awesome overlook over a spring. We told our favorite memories of each other, sang along to Christian music while one of my friends played the guitar and prayed over everyone and my move,” Daniel said. “In that moment I knew all six of those girls were going to be friends I had for life. There were lots of tears, prayers, laughs and friendship. I couldn’t ask for a better group of best friends.”

Friendship is a common theme that brings students together during the summer.

Le said her most cherished moment of the summer was, “probably sending off all my friends to college because I got to be a part of such a big moment in their lives.”

However, for some students, work remained at the top of their summer highlights. This was true for senior Austin Tyler Lambert who co-owns the business Alpine Air Care.

Lambert’s best summer memory came during work because he “made three grand in one week.”

Senior Marissa Maloney also enjoyed her summer work experience at Bounce Carolina.

“I work with inflatables. You get to see the kids’ reactions while on the bounce house and water slide,” Maloney said.

While some stayed near and pursued a steady paycheck, others traveled to soak in the summer fun.

“When I went on vacation to the Bahamas, I enjoyed myself and it was just like stress free, spending time with my family because that is just one thing I really like doing,” junior Ra’Shawn King said.

Sophomore Kayla Wrenn had a different travel location she felt exceeded all others.

“New York because I love the city. It’s always busy, and there are always things to do,” Wrenn said.

From New York to Europe, students were able to create meaningful memories.

Freshman Andrew Conroy said, “My favorite travel location was London, England because I had great weather while I was there, I was with all my friends, and I got to play soccer, all while experiencing a new country and a different way of life that was really interesting.”