Party’s over: Start of school year means end of summer fun
Verbatim
Mallory Millay
Every year, as summer draws to an end, it happens — back to school time.
To the horror of many high school kids — sophomores, juniors and seniors — as well as first-time freshmen, the summer seemed to end before it even started.
Even the few remaining weeks before the dreaded day are crammed with the things we were going to do to make this summer “the one to remember.” The time we had to hang out with friends and sleep in now seems so limited. It is now filled with shopping for clothes and supplies, which we will have to go to great lengths to get. Before we know it, we are so busy trying to remember our new classes and combinations to lockers — that rarely open, anyway — the summer seems like a distant memory and all we have time for is school.
Late nights and even later mornings are what summer is all about. You can stay up till 1 a.m. hanging out with friends, watching movies, playing video games, going to sleep until 2 p.m., then get up and do it all over again.
Soon-to-be college students begin to have going away parties as their first day of school draws nearer, which serves as another excuse to stay out late, party and be with friends.
For many high-schoolers, this is the last time they can enjoy partying without having to worry about dragging themselves to school on only two hours of sleep. Not many stop staying out late when school starts, it is just nicer not having to get up at the crack of dawn to go where some don’t want to be.
School shopping is another pain some people (especially some guys) hate to do. There are few choices on the peninsula when it comes to shopping for clothes and school supplies. You can go to Fred Meyer, or look around town at Gottschalks, or any other store that might have clothes and supplies that fit your style or budget, but chances are, you aren’t going to be the only person wearing that shirt or pair of jeans the first day of school. Your other choices are to drive to Anchorage and load up on what you need, or order it online, hoping it fits and arrives on time.
When the doors open on the first day of school and the students begin to file in, it becomes a scene of total chaos. Everyone is yelling, talking and trying to find one another.
Of course, when you go to your locker to put your new notebooks and binders away, you find the stupid thing won’t open and you have to have one of your friends open it for you every time.
Then there is the announcement that they are handing out schedules and you fight your way through the throngs of classmates to the table labeled AJ, or whatever your last name starts with, and hope that you haven’t been put into a strange class you know you won’t like.
After that, it is normally smooth sailing throughout the day as you go to the assembly and listen to the principal talk and introduce teachers, then head to your classes and wait for your friend to show up to open your locker. Everything goes off without a hitch.
With that, the summer is officially over.
No more parties, no more sleeping in. Just getting up and going to bed early and doing homework. Many get through the week by anticipating the weekend, or the breaks that will come as we’re in school longer. The school year seems so long in comparison to the short summer break that just ended.
I look at it this way — now I have more time to plan another great summer.
Mallory Millay is junior at Skyview High School.