While most people will be kicking back and having a good time all summer, there are others who will be keeping busy throughout the summer.

Freshman Shilo Smith will be heading out of town three times.

First, she will attend the 2015 Michigan Teen Conference at Saginaw Valley State University.

This conference is for youth who are preparing to leave foster care. At this conference, Smith will be doing a variety of activities including college preparation, career planning, and swimming.

Smith said she is extremely excited for the conference and to stay on campus.

“It lasts three days, and I’m excited,”  Smith said.  “It’s a new opportunity to get out into the world.”

Smith will also be attending two camps.

The first camp is a horse camp called Luckys in Grand Rapids.  Smith will ride horses, learn horse tricks, enjoy campfire activities, and stay in a cabin for four days.

The final camp she will attend is in Livonia. It is called Forever Family, and she described it as a support group.

“It’s a camp for kids in foster care that helps us to not feel alone and know that there are others like us,” Shilo said.

While Smith will be travelling throughout the state, another student will head out of state.

Junior Santino Guerra will be in Washington, D.C., this summer, participating in the Empower program, a leadership summit that will engage DECA members into becoming effective leaders.

He will be there for several days participating in multiple educational programs that will help him to excel and grow as a DECA leader.

Guerra is extremely excited.

“I’m enthusiastic and ready to learn because I want to use the experience to help grow Michigan DECA,” Guerra said.

Of course, students are not the only ones who stay busy during the summer.

Mr. Jack Linn and Mr. Rob Markwardt, history teachers, will be continuing their gardening tradition.  This will be the third year that they have gardened together.

Linn and Markwardt began getting the garden ready Memorial Day weekend. They plant things like corn, tomatoes, beets, kale, and peppers, all of which contain no pesticides.

Linn and Markwardt said they started their gardening tradition because it is healthy and helps them save money.

“So much cancer is going on with genetically modified foods and pesticides play a big part in that,” Linn said. “This is just much better for your body.”

Linn and Markwardt plan for the food to be ready for picking by mid July or late April.

Mr. Jared Rawls, English teacher, joined their tradition last summer and plans to participate again this summer.

Rawls finds the gardening therapeutic.

“I wanted to get outside, wanted to be in good company, and it’s peaceful,” Rawls said.

Once the men harvest their crops, they eat it, can it, and Linn makes his delicious salsa.

However, Linn teasingly said that Rawls grew too much last year.

“Last year, Mr. Rawls overgrew kale and okra,” Linn said.