Newtown Students Share Their Summer Plans

By Sarah Ferris

Two days after school gets out, the only thoughts on most kids’ minds are of swimming, s’mores, and sleeping until noon. For several Newtown students around the district, this will not be the case.

On June 27, two days after the last day of school for the district on June 25, Newtown High School junior Katy Howell will begin her 25-hour plane trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

“I wanted to have a whole new experience this summer,” Katy said.

For three weeks, Katy will volunteer in schools, orphanages, soup kitchens, and shelters for the many poverty-stricken residents of Cape Town.

“I’ve never even been outside the US before,” said Katy.

Katy and several other teens from around the world will be involved building and restoring facilities, as well as teaching English, computer skills, or sports to children and adults in the local area. Although Katy does not have much experience in community service, she said she “can’t wait to be able to help people who really need it.”

The organization sponsoring the trip, Global Leadership Adventures, offers trips in ten countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. Since its founding in 2004, hundreds of students from more than 50 countries have participated in the nondenominational service trips that are either two or three weeks long.

Katy has already communicated with several students going with her to South Africa through Facebook, the social networking site. She says she has gotten to know students from as far as Australia and Spain and as close as Westport.

NHS junior Scott Kim will also be meeting new people this summer, including researchers from the University of Pennsylvania. Out of hundreds of applicants, Scott was selected as one of several students to participate in a biomedical engineering internship on campus.

“I wanted to use my summer to gain some experience [in biomedical engineering],” said Scott, who wants to study immunology or dermatology in the future.

Scott said he is most excited to work with the University of Pennsylvania researchers on an independent research project of his choice. He hopes to focus his project on keratosis pilaris, a common genetic condition of the skin.

Throughout his academic career, he has “always focused on the sciences and mathematics,” said Scott, who participated in the Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth last summer. By the end of his senior year, Scott will have taken 11 advanced placement courses at the high school, including every advanced placement science course the school offers.

“This internship should be very interesting,” said Scott. “I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Even though eighth grade student Zoe Eggleston is not leaving the country or studying with university researchers this summer, she knows she will have a good time with her friend Yesenia Ayala, called Yese for short, who is visiting her family this summer.

Zoe says she “can’t wait to go to Treadwell and jump off the diving board, or run around outside in pajamas” like she and Yese do often.

Zoe and Yese have a unique friendship. Although they are only a year apart in age, their lives could not be more different.

“The first time Yese came to our house,” Zoe explained,  “she was really surprised we had our own swing set.”

Yese grew up with her four brothers deep in the Bronx, where urban sidewalks and crowded parks are as common as thick forests and grassy lawns are in Newtown.

The friendship between Yese and the Eggleston family is made possible by the Fresh Air Fund. Each summer, this not-for-profit organization sends more than 5,000 children from New York City to visit host families for two weeks or more across 13 Northeastern states.

Yese first stayed with the Egglestons when she was 7; this year, she will turn 15. Since her first summer in Newtown, Yese has joined the family on countless beach outings, campouts, and hiking trips.

“Yese loves it in Newtown,” said Zoe.