It’s been a hectic few weeks back at Peddie! Many of us are still adjusting from the transition from summer to school, but it’s been a blast. The campus is buzzing with energy, and students/faculty alike are glad to see each other again. The Falcons have a bright year ahead of them! But before we move on, let’s take a moment to rehash our vacations and days spent in the past three months. I talked to some of my friends and classmates to see what they did to keep themselves busy. Let me just say, their experiences sound a LOT more exciting than mine!
Eric Cho ’25:
Our vice president, Eric Cho, certainly had an eventful time.
“Basically I did a summer sign up in Jersey working at a hospital for a couple weeks. It was pretty cool and I learned a lot. During that time I was also training here at Peddie with Coach Brooks in preparation for some football camps that I had.
I also hung out with some of my Peddie friends a couple of times. We went swimming in the Delaware River and it was aesthetic, but the current was strong and the rocks scratched me up. Also one of my sandals got lost in the current. I did about I think five football camps in the area before I went back home to Texas. Actually, before that I visited my mom in Tennessee. I didn’t really do much back home; I just studied,worked out and spent time with some old friends.
My friend and I made some bread tutoring people. I kinda got hurt at the camps so I did some rehab. I found a record player, so I bought some vinyl, but to be honest it sounded the same as a normal speaker, so I don’t really know what the point is but it looked cool. I started playing the piano again since I don’t really play the piano at Peddie, so when I go back home I have a keyboard that I play on and that’s usually pretty fun. Oh, also, basically my friends made a Tik Tok account called dkjtvclips, and they post like movie clips and I sent videos of myself to be the yellow thing in the corner, and the videos did decently good I guess. But then they ended up using that video to show everyone at the community meeting. If I had to give a lesson from the summer it would definitely be to be focused on what’s in front of you. Don’t buy minecraft realms because you’ll play on it once and then the other person won’t ever log onto it, and then it’s just four bucks you could have used to do anything else. Appreciate who’s there for you.”
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Imani Jones ’25:
“I attended a residential program with the School of the New York Times for two weeks in Manhattan, where I lived in one of Fordham University’s dorms and partook in classes for creative writing. I was able to receive feedback from NYU faculty and travel the city to gain inspiration for my work.”
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Bryan Cheng ’26:
“My summer was an absolutely amazing time. If there’s one thing I can for sure say was that it was enlightening. Besides my trip to Chicago, and two jobs, the majority of my time was spent on self-discovery. Going hiking, taking day trips with friends and starting my weight loss journey were all routines that I implemented into my daily life. Not just that but eating better, sleeping better and just doing what I needed in preparation for junior year was essential to me. But more than that, I found a lot of fulfillment in the things I was doing day to day. Not only were my two jobs incredibly enjoyable, but I noticed a very positive shift in my life/mindset as I worked towards tangible goals every day. Now that I’m back at school, I’m only more motivated to continue that trend, setting small, achievable goals that’ll propel my own journey of self-discovery further every day.”
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Timur Tyan ’27:
“The highlight of my summer was for sure the time I got to spend with my friends and family. Right after school ended, I headed to Rhode Island for the next few weeks at the Brown Pre-College program. There I took a microeconomics course, one of the subjects that I am most interested in, and had a blast with the new people I’ve met. After that, I went to Seoul, South Korea, to meet my family and friends. There, we went to waterparks, and amusement parks, and biked by the city’s river until our legs gave out. I could only capture these moments in memory, and I am certain they will remain with me forever.”
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Ethan Yang ’25:
“I had a productive summer spent in Dr. Dettmer’s lab in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital studying a brain protein called alpha-synuclein. Specifically, I looked at a mutation that could potentially cause alpha-synuclein to clump up, leading to diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzhimer’s. After seven weeks in the Dettmer’s lab, mastering western blot techniques, I decided to stay at the Brigham volunteering for the summer. The first month of my shifts included helping discharge patients, while the second month consisted of bringing patients to their preoperative rooms. I was able to meet a lot of cool people during my time in the hospital, both in the lab and during volunteering. People in the lab were able to give great perspective into potential professions while interacting with peers my age from a city I hardly knew was fun. Aside from my time at the hospital, I also picked up a couple of new hobbies. Pickleball with my mom was something I frequently enjoyed as well as teaching myself the electric guitar, which I now know five songs on. You can’t forget vacation, too. I ended up traveling to Lake Placid during the 4th which was a good change of pace from the liveliness of Boston, and I made my way down to Clearwater, Florida, at the end of the summer, my highlight being saving a manatee. Overall, I had a wonderful summer of learning new skills and meeting new people a solid 7/10.”
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Alison Hung ’27
“WHAT DID I DO OVER THE SUMMER! I flew home to Taipei, Taiwan, on May 30, and I was on the same plane as a friend from my old school. It took me two weeks to adjust to the time difference so I did nothing then and I just rotted at home, playing around with my guitar. I started learning the guitar over summer and it was so fun, and I started taking classes 2x every week after my jet lag was mostly fixed. On June 30, I went to Shanghai to visit my maternal grandmother and my best friend, Xinchen. We hung out four times while I was in Shanghai for a week, and we had a sleepover at a hotel.
We stayed out on the Bund Shanghai until 12 AM until we went back to the hotel and watched “Despicable Me” until we fell asleep.
I went back home to see my paternal grandparents, and we ate nice dinners together as a family. I went to Los Angeles to attend UCLA’s business summer school hosted by Summer Discovery, which was very fun. We got to do a fun activity every night, like go to Disney, a Niall Horan concert and Century City.
It was fun, and I met a group of amazing people. I went home, and I was alone for four days where I called Jessica Kim ’27 because she was also home alone. We created home alone diaries and called each other the entire day so we wouldn’t be alone. I stayed at home and took my regular classes for two weeks and had more family gatherings.”
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Ahn Tran ’27
“I went back to Vietnam and I spent a little bit of my summer in the countryside where there’s a lot of farms and lots of greenery. I visited my grandpa’s sister who’s almost 100, and there was a festival of religion and stuff like that. Then, I also went to different beaches around Vietnam and that was it. I really didn’t do much, and I visited my old friends.”
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Siana Mupidi ’27
“Over the summer, I worked on a project about the ethics of AI. Using machine learning, I conducted research about how human bias affects its behavior. I also went to a field hockey camp, and went home to India.I also attended the opening of a new candle and pottery making place in Hyderabad.”
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Whether your summer was lively or more laid-back, I hope you were able to take some time to yourself, your mental health, and well-being. Let’s all do our best for the 9 months ahead of us. We got this, falcons!
Ala Viva!
