After a memorable final year of high school, seniors are ready to spend some well-deserved time off at the beach. Carrying on the beach week tradition, seniors are planning to travel to Bethany or Dewey Beach from June 1 to 8 to spend a relaxing week by the waves.
Despite being a summer tradition, the process of planning for beach week starts earlier, with students starting the search for houses as early as December. Regardless of the early start, houses have been hard to find, due to both the demand for houses and requirements set by the renters. “Even though my group started planning in December, it was still hard for us to find a house because of the amount of other groups booking houses and minimum age requirements to rent a house. Luckily we found an affordable house, but I don’t think we would have if we had started searching later,” senior Rohan Giare said.
Similar to years past, students have planned to go to Bethany or Dewey Beach. “My group chose to go to Bethany beach because lots of people we know are also going there,” senior Katelyn Ahn said.
Beach activities graduates are looking forward to include playing spikeball, football and volleyball, as well as more relaxing activities. “I can’t wait for the UV to get to seven and up so I can get that golden brown tan,” senior Daniel Son said.
Last year’s beach week was a success, with students making the most of their last event as a class. “Beach week gave me time to relax and have fun with my closest friends before we left for college. It also taught us how to be independent and gave us a taste of how living away from home was gonna be,” alumnus and Elon University student Anika Srinivasan said.
This sentiment was also echoed by alumnus and Purdue University student Prahlad Shelvapille. “I definitely made memories that will last forever,” Shelvapille said.
Students from other schools will be at the beaches at the same time as this school. Some graduates, including seniors Alexa Vinner and Emerson Noble have decided to go with Churchill students to beach week. Despite primarily spending time with Churchill students, Vinner looks forward to seeing her friends from Wootton as well. “I’m happy that Wootton and Churchill are going at the same time, because I’ll still get to see my friends from Wootton even though I’ll be mainly hanging out with Churchill,” Vinner said.
Though seniors are happy to be entering a new chapter in their lives, the feeling is bittersweet, as they are parting ways with good friends. Beach week offers a chance for graduates to catch up with their friends and celebrate as a class, one last time. “I’m going to miss my friends but I’m excited for a new chapter in my life,” Ahn said.
