The definition of “tradition” is an ambiguous one, considering there’s no minimum age, no minimum amount of prevalence and no minimum acceptance for something to be considered a “tradition.” Nevertheless, many girls have traditions—like carving jack-o-lanterns in the fall, or decorating gingerbread houses in the winter or dyeing pastel-colored eggs in the spring. And for some, summer means another season for tradition.
SHRED THE STRESS
Ah, summer: the season of no school and therefore, for many, no stress or deadlines to meet.
At the beginning of each summer, junior Caroline shreds her homework, tests and quizzes—“Everything. Literally everything,” she said. “Everything goes in the shredder.”
Caroline does not see any use to keeping all her grades.
“It’s stupid how people keep all those tests and quizzes they got a 98 on. You’re not going to need it later,” she said. “In college I’m not going to say, ‘Oh look! I got a 98 on my geometry quiz!’”
Tossing all her grades also allows Caroline to leave the school year and start the summer with a clean slate.
“If there’s a bad grade, I don’t want it looming over me,” Caroline said. “It doesn’t help my self-esteem much, and I don’t want to dig through my stuff later only to find that I got a negative three on my test.”
She also deletes her old computer files, excluding papers or photography prints.
“I feel like they have some creative value, so I don’t want to get rid of that,” she said. Caroline also keeps them for sentimental reasons. “It’s interesting to keep track of my writing over the years and see how I’ve grown as a person.”
THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA
planting a garden isn’t an anomaly. Planting a garden and never tending to it for the entire summer is, however. Sixth grader Hallet does just that.
When Hallet was young, she would plant vegetables and herbs with her babysitter. Over the course of the summer, however, she and her family would forget to water or tend to the plants.
“Then we’d go into the gardens, and they’d be growing,” Hallet said. “That’s kind of just what we do now. There are always some plants we tend to, but we leave most of them to grow.”
Miraculously, most of the plants grow, lasting even until the winter.
Ever since, at the beginning of each summer, Hallet goes to Northaven Gardens nursery and picks anything she’d like to grow. She just waters the plants once and watches them bloom.
“I just roam and see what I like and pick a bunch of random plants,” she said.
She usually chooses tomatoes and peas which actually grow until wintertime when they’re supposed to die. The basil herbs usually don’t last, and once, swallowtail caterpillars attacked the dill plants.
“Sometimes bugs get them and it’s too hot for [the plants],” Hallet said. Her favorite plant to grow is an herb, thyme.
GREAT OUTDOORS GIRL
Sophomore Jessica’s mother went to Land O’ Peaks camp in Estes Park, Colo. when she was younger. Jessica followed in her footsteps and has gone to the same camp for three years; this summer marks her fourth year.
At Land O’ Peaks, campers live in cabins and often shoot archery or horseback ride. Jessica mostly goes backpacking through the mountains, though.
“I love backpacking,” she gushed. The longest backpacking trip is five days. “It’s a lot of fun, and I get really close with the girls and counselors I go with.”
Phones are not allowed, but Jessica doesn’t mind. “Just being away from everything in the middle of nowhere is really cool,” she said. Yet Jessica’s favorite part of camp is the people.
“They live in Boston, California and Colorado, but I feel so close to them, and the friends I’ve made are unbelievable,” she said. “Everyone’s just so nice and down-to-earth.” Her best friend from camp actually attends Ursuline Academy of Dallas.
And as the camp is in Colorado, the mountainous scenery is no doubt breathtaking. Jessica said, “If you love the outdoors, spend four weeks up there—you can’t beat that.”
-Tiffany
