When the bell strikes 11:25 on June 1 this year , we all will flee to our cars, seniors will mount the retaining wall opposite the school entrance, and the teachers will revel in the absence of students. Then we’ll all go home…and sit on our couch. Nothing more than a Saturday morning pastime that we simply becom einvolved in. The notion seems to slip us completely that we have two months of freedom without the attachment of homework or other school responsibilities.

There seems to be an epidemic in our generation with people not wanting to go out and do new things, to experience the areas that we live in. Even in the next two months, we’ll wake up at 11:30 (at the earliest) eata bowl of Our-Favorite-Cereal, plop on the couch for an hour or so, then go to a friend’s house and do the samething. There may be gatherings and bonfires, but that is the extent of it. We seem to get lost in the middle of our break and our desire to have fun. What seems like a harmless little habitat the dawn of summer turns into a two month long relapse that we can’t get out of. We don’t go out and try new things.

Let’s not forget other responsibilities though. We don’t want to break laws. It is still illegal for most of us to smoke. It is still illegal for any of us to drink. Let us not throw our futures in the toilet during this summer because we wanted to push the limits of fun.

This summer, don’t make it about lounging and “chillin”. Go and DO something. Hanging around with our friends is something that we can al ldo on a Friday night. Everyone hass omething that they want to do, but that say they don’t have the time for. Whether it be training for a marathon, or reading the entire Lord of the Rings series. Do it. Maybe you want to go camping for the first time (some of us still haven’t) or you want to take flying lessons. Do it. Go to a summer camp, a soccer camp, a football camp, a boyscout camp, a construction camp, or even a fine arts camp

.There are so many things that we can all experience now that we are older, things that we can’t do when we’re in school because they take up our already limited time, but now is our opportunity. Summer is two months that we have the world for. To be cliche, it is our oyster.

But in the midst of all this excitement, we can’t forget our basic responsibilities. Some of us may still have summer homework for English that we need to do. We may still have jobs that we have to work at. If we don’t have jobs, we need to take advantage of the time and go find them. There may be some of us who have to watch younger siblings for ourp arents while they’re working. Those are things we need to do first.

We can still experience great new, things with out any legal ramifications. And we should.