The summer before college for many is the end of something. While many view this time as a time to spend the most time at home with their family, others are planning to explore places as distant as London and Croatia to places as close to home as the local pool while others feel nostalgic.

The summer before college is one sure to be filled with bittersweet feelings. Oftentimes, there is a friction between being excited for college to feeling nostalgic for the past.

Many students are using this summer as an opportunity to look ahead. To many, the summer before college is filled with activities for college such as visiting their college, going to orientation and meeting up with potential roommates.

Senior Madeleine Kelly looks forward to visiting the college that she is attending in the fall, Saint Louis University.

“I’m going to be visiting my school, Saint Louis University, over the summer and going to orientation and registering for classes and trying to find suitemates, and I’m very excited,” Kelly said.

To prepare for college and keep occupied, many are also planning to work this summer.

“I’ll be working at Zoup this summer and also getting a second job,” senior Lindsay Spear said.

“I’m going to be working at Mathnasium,” senior Krish Patel said.

“I’m planning on being a camp counselor at a summer camp, and I’m really excited because I’ve been going to that camp since I was like 8 or 9 [years old], and so it’s a really cool opportunity for me,” senior Connor Lyons said.

Many seniors are also planning on traveling the world this summer with their families. Senior Nora Joy is planning on going to Croatia while Kelly is planning on traveling to Europe.

“My family is taking a trip to Croatia for my grandparents’ 50th anniversary, and I’m really excited about that,” Joy said.

“I’m going to Europe in June; I’m very excited, I’m going to Paris and London for about two weeks,” Kelly said.

While the summer before college is a time free of any obligations for many, it is still a bittersweet time. To many, it is the last time they will feel truly like a kid, living at home with their parents full time. It is also a period between the end of the most formative years of student’s lives to date to the looming presence of college in students’ minds.

Senior Arianna DeLeon is sentimental knowing that this is her last true summer in her hometown.

“I think it’s really bittersweet that we’re spending our last summer together in the Grove,” DeLeon said.

As a member of the DGS girls cross country team for the last three years, preseason training was a typical part of senior Isabella Gutierrez’s summer. This summer will be the first in many years that she will not be attending summer running.

“I feel weird and like something is missing in my life. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all this extra time,” Gutierrez said.

However, there is a common consensus that this is definitely the summer that seniors plan to make the most of.

“I hope to enjoy it as much as I can, to enjoy spending time with friends and family before there’s a lot of changes this upcoming year,” Kelly said.

For these upcoming blissful three months, there is nothing to do except act like a teenager: cannonballing into the pool, staying up all night, going camping and more. However students plan to spend the summer before college, it is important to remember that there is nothing more important than living in the moment and enjoying every moment before everything changes.