By Ev Jensen, Bella Marciano, and David Strupp
As summer vacation nears, students prepare themselves to hit the beaches. Despite the persistent nagging of parents to remember sunscreen and a dry towel, students often forget the dangers that lurk in the absence of these summer essentials. Here are a few items that you should never forget on your next summer excursion.
Sunscreen:
“One summer, I went to Nantucket for a week with my family. We got to the house early and went to the beach after unpacking our things. I was really tired so I laid out on a towel and took a nap. We ended up staying at the beach for five hours and I slept the entire time without any sunscreen on. When I woke up, I couldn’t even open my eyes because they were swollen shut and my entire body was burnt. I ended up getting sun poisoning and had to stay inside for the rest of the trip. It was the worst vacation of my life.” –Edward Rudman ‘17
Waterproof case:
“Last summer, I went to a beach in Rowayton. I had a waterproof case for my phone and my friend thought it would be funny if he threw my phone in the water with the flashlight on. It wasn’t funny at all because after five minutes of searching, he still couldn’t find my phone. We all searched around in the water and began to lose all hope of finding my phone. Just as I started getting really mad at my friend, he saw the light shining onto the sand. Since then, I haven’t brought my phone even close to water.” -Ellie Aliapoulios ‘16
Water bottle:
“When I was in 5th grade, I went to my brother’s graduation ceremony at Dunning Field. It was the hottest day of the year and it was ten times as hot on the turf. I hadn’t drank a lot that day so I was really thirsty and dizzy. I leaned against the fence around the field and all of the sudden, I passed out from heat stroke. Everyone around me freaked out and tried to pick me up. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that incident is the reason there are tons of water bottles at graduation now.” -Catherine Granito ‘16
Bag:
“Last summer, I went on vacation to Sea Isle City on the Jersey shore. My sister and I were both tanning and had our eyes closed for maybe thirty minutes. When I woke up, my sunglasses were stolen from my towel and it looked like whoever took them was long gone. It was partially my fault since I didn’t bring a bag with me. I just had all of my belongings sprawled across the towel, I definitely learned my lesson.” -Shannon Bucci ‘17
Dry towel:
“One summer, I was at a friend’s house swimming at their pool. As I was walking by the side of the pool, my friend pushed me in with a towel in my hands. After I was done swimming, the towel hadn’t dried but I still needed to bring it home so I just went ahead and put the towel in the back of my car. I forgot to take out the towel so the backseat of my car got soaked and smelled like wet dog for a month.” -Mike Cognetta ‘16
