Alsion Students’ Summer Plans
[Aashi Mehrotra]
By: Aashi Mehrotra and Charlie Hoang
Students of the Alsion community have a vivid and exciting summer approaching. The upcoming months promise a blend of academic pursuits, creative endeavors, and exciting travels reflecting the vibrant and ambitious spirit of the Alsion Community.
Many students are seizing the summer as an opportunity for significant academic and career advancement. Plans include seeking a valuable internship, working on personal projects to build skills, and engaging in rigorous online school courses. For some, this means diving deep into subjects like math, while others are focusing on specialized training like CTY courses which are offered by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.
Beyond academics, Alsion students are set for a summer of adventure and personal growth. Travel is a major theme, with students planning trips to international destinations such as Fiji, India, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as domestic adventures including potential camping trips and extended stays in Alaska.
Charlie’s Plans:
For this summer, I applied to a few different programs, including in-person research programs, internships, and writing courses. One of the research programs I was hoping to get into was hosted by UC Santa Barbara and was a research mentorship situation, however, it was rather competitive, and I simply didn’t have the experience or fit for it.
Though I was rather disappointed by this, I found some other opportunities like an English course on mystery novels I’m taking at Ohlone for 6 weeks, and a writers workshop online I was admitted into. Even so, you could consider my summer rather light, but at the same time, it is intentionally slow. I’m choosing to balance academic stimulation with my interests. So, rather than overloading my schedule with activities and programs, I hope to travel and use my free time to visit my family in Malaysia and Vietnam. I think around this time in high school, students will lose sight of their lives outside of school (including myself), especially since junior year (regarded as pivotal) is rapidly approaching. However, I can’t help but worry not about college, but about the loss of relationships and connections in college. I don’t see the value in experiencing college-level stress and overload now, when in college, I won’t have a choice, so I choose my family and friends now.
There is, of course, an undeniable tension between academic aspirations and interpersonal values. Like many others, the former haunts me and the latter does little to comfort me, but I did eventually realize which is more meaningful—an important decision we as students have to make.
I’ve (mostly) reconciled that growth isn’t always academic and that choosing life in other ways will allow growth. I value deadlines and lectures and homework and what they do to challenge my mind, but for now, I also accept connecting with family and going outside and reading obscure fiction novels and learning through those out-of-classroom experiences.
There will be more time to chase internships and research labs, but I hope choosing myself and the people I love will make me more grounded for when those opportunities arrive.
Aashi’s Plans:
The deep breath that is summer break serves two purposes: relief after the tedious swim that is the previous school year, and preparation for the next big dive underwater. This summer, I hope to unwind and spend time on creative hobbies such as writing and poetry while also picking up the basics of Calculus, Biology, and Chemistry for next year. I have plans to attend a summer camp at UCLA for Aerospace Engineering and will spend a few days in the area once it finishes. Throughout the break, I will spend my weekends at my job, teaching kung fu to beginner students. This summer offers me a chance to recharge creatively and academically with a full—but not stressful—breath of fresh air.