We’ve all had great expectations for our summer vacations but there are some that will always be a memory in the back of their minds. Summer vacations are different for everyone, but some students at South went to extraordinary places or did extraordinary things.

“We went many places,” said senior Maya Cameron. “One of them was the Dominican Republic.”

During this time in the Dominican, Cameron and the group she was with visited the Haitian Batey (a town of deep poverty) and Cameron favorited one thing most.
“One day we had paint so we let kids paint their shoes. I just loved their reaction. When they painted their black shoes with white paint they thought they had just gotten a new pair of shoes. It was priceless,” said Cameron.

Cameron said she learned a life lesson on this trip from the kids in the Haitian Batey.

“I learned how lucky I am for what I have. In the Batey the kids love soccer and baseball yet I have the opportunity to play on amazing baseball and soccer fields and they have nothing to play on except the dirt roads. I wish I could bring them over and have them play a game on a big field,” Cameron said.

“It was very emotional and hard to leave,” Cameron said.

Teachers as well as students (who do have lives believe it or not) took a pretty amazing trip.

Mitch Stevens, history teacher, rode his bike with a friend across the state of Missouri to raise money for child cancer research.

“I first rode a train to Kansas City and met a friend. Then we rode to the state line,” said Stevens. “On the first day we stopped in Brookville biking 130 miles, day 2 stopping in Hermann biking 90 miles, and day 3 finishing off in St. Louis.”

Stevens said he had a great time. He also liked the prep for the bike ride and the challenge of the ride itself. He would do it again but bigger, like across America or in Europe.

“It was fun to meet different people and to hear their reactions when they found out we biked from Kansas City,” said Stevens.

Rio de Janeiro had a visitor from Parkway South over the summer, and it was Junior Bethany Wells. She was with her church and went abroad to pass out pins to the host city of the Olympics. She and her dad meet up with a group of 18 people once they got there. Pin trading is the buying and trading of collectible pins and related items featuring attractions, icons, events and other elements. The practice is a hobby.

“We went to beaches, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and Olympic Park,” said Wells.

If you take Japanese you can go on a trip to Japan every other year, and this is exactly what senior Indiana Davis did.

“First we stayed in Suwa, Japan with a host family and went to a Japanese high school, then two other places,” said Davis.

Being a school trip, Japanese teacher Aaron Cook and Principal Patrice Aitch went as well as 8 total students including Davis, 2 boys and 6 girls. The cost of the field trip was originally estimated to be around $3,000 but then dropped to around $2,500.

“It was such a beautiful country and there wasn’t enough time to experience everything,” said Davis. “My favorite thing was going to the Japanese arcades, oh and I especially loved the food, but you have to love seafood.”

Sophomore Ava Matteucci went to Cancun and stayed at the beautiful Grand Palladium resort. While she was there she visited many beaches, the town, the Tulum, Mayan Ruins, and caves. She had a very scenic trip.

“It was the last vacation before my brother leaves for college,” Matteucci said.