By: Angel Chen
As the spring season spills into summer break, area high school students are beginning to plot out their long vacation.
And those plans are a diverse running the gamut from caddying to retail to working as a camp counselor to traveling around the world.
Princeton High School senior Michael Chester, who is headed for the University of Virginia in the fall, will head back to a summer job he has held for several years: caddying at the Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield.
Although Michael finds the job "tiring because of the nature of the work," he can’t deny that the pay is more than adequate and the hours, flexible.
Younger brother Chris Chester, a sophomore at Princeton High School, will keep his job at Cranbury Paint and Hardware on North Main Street, which he has held throughout the school year.
The brothers hope to make a reasonable sum of money for themselves, while gaining some valuable job experience.
Also in the heart of town, at the Cranbury School, the township’s Summer Recreation Camp is attracting many summer workers. Princeton High School seniors Kelly Marshall, Chad Zebuhr, juniors Stephanie Belly and Meghan Faulkner, Westtown senior Eleanor Andrews, Peddie School senior Thomas Johnson and Notre Dame senior Justin Petrosini, are just several high school students and residents of Cranbury that will be returning for what will be their third, fourth, or even fifth year as counselors.
One might wonder where the appeal lies in a job where the long hours are spent under the sun, often chasing after a multitude of rowdy kids. But these veterans claim that although exhaustive, the job is full of good fun and the counselors, who’ve become close friends over the years, plan their own outings and get togethers when the day is done.
Moving out of downtown Cranbury, students have found a host of other jobs.
The Cranbury Swim Club provides a wealth of opportunities from lifeguarding to manning the snack bar. Princeton High School sophomore Katie Stannard and Peddie sophomore Polly Silverman both plan to lifeguard. The girls anticipate acquiring perfect tans, as well as revelling in the leisurely pace of the club.
A handful of students plan to spend their summers outside Cranbury and some outside of the country.
Kendrick Li, a Princeton sophomore, will be traveling all over China with his family while PHS senior Maggie Chaleroy will head to Germany with her sister. After a senior year that was filled with the stress of college applications and eventually deciding her ultimate destination, Maggie greatly looks forward to "enjoying some time for myself and not having to worry about returning to school work, only the excitement of college."
Junior Lena Yousef adds that "travelling abroad for extended periods of time is such a treasure during summer vacation." Lena plans to explore both Spain and Egypt with her brother and parents during the summer.
Matt McCarville, having almost completed junior year, looks to his future this summer. He plans to embark on a road trip that will make stops at various colleges across the nation from Vanderbilt in Tennessee to Claremont McKenna in California.
"I’m so excited that I’ve put behind all the standardized testing and can now look forward to putting my tireless efforts toward choosing a college that fits me."
Senior Laura Westock will be attending "Creation," an event she describes as something of a "Christian Woodstock." A devout Christian, Laura has believed that religion is her calling and will be pursuing it through college.
Senior Katherine Humora will be giving back to the community while partaking in something to which she is fervently devoted. A member of Special Olympics since her sophomore year of high school, Katherine has been asked to be a counselor at a summer physical disabilities camp for youth. There, she will have the ability to run her own group activities. She feels very strongly about her cause and expresses her enthusiasm for her projected summer endeavors.
Indeed, summer plans are as eclectic in range as are those students who seek them. From international travelling to down-the-block day to day jobs, Cranbury high school students of all classes seem to anticipate worthwhile, productive summers.
