There were various ways I could spend the month of July, but I ended up back on campus for the GRACE summer program. GRACE, which stands for Groton Accelerate Challenge Enrich, is a program that allows rising Third Formers to prepare for the upcoming school year and/or accelerate into advanced classes.
I spent my four-week period taking 2 B courses: Latin and chemistry. To be entirely honest, I spent a lot of time studying—whether for a chemistry pop quiz or a Latin translation test. I can’t even begin to describe my delight in feeling the scalding sun after a day of sitting in the air-conditioned schoolhouse. However, to say that I did not enjoy my GRACE experience would be inaccurate. From a trip to Canobie Lake Park to a full day exploring Boston, I found multiple moments to destress and revel in summer fun.
I distinctly remember our camping trip to Zoar Outdoors, the first day designated for ziplining and the second for white-water rafting. Since the zip-lining activity was divided into sections for different times of the day (and I was part of the last group), I spent most of my morning waiting and aimlessly wandering the campgrounds with a friend. I was so excited to zipline, to feel the surging wind against my face as I charged down the bowl-shaped mountain, and to see the jumbles of forest-green trees clogging every mile. Unfortunately, just as it was time for my group to ascend the hill—dressed in our bulky harnesses with lanyards in our hands—we were notified of an incoming storm. And so, instead of the planned afternoon of ziplining, I sat on the peeling white-washed picnic benches with my friends, deciding between tousled knots of friendship-bracelet-string, occasionally swatting at nearby mosquitoes, and listening to music and laughter stirring like stew in the air. Despite the disappointment of being unable to zipline, this felt like an equivalent or even better replacement.
The following day, after the blur of excitement and adrenaline from white-water rafting, we made the two-hour ride back to Groton. The sky was blanketed in a cloak of gray, and a soft drizzle of rain was pattering the roof of our bus, enveloping us in a sea of white noise. I remember feeling tired and sleepy from the trip yet also thankful and rejuvenated for the final week of GRACE. By the end of this month-long summer program, although I had questioned why I was in school a plentiful number of times, I think it was all worth it.