Friday, June 04, 1999
School's out: Hurry up and rest
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Nicole Beall's day planner tells it all: Summer can't come soon enough.
It's plastered with Post-it notes, and the boxes marking her final school days are crammed full of scribbled notes and appointments.
She hastily pulled out her planner to make an entry Thursday in chemistry class at Springboro High School. A quick glance showed that after next week, most date boxes are nearly blank.
Nicole, 17, can't wait for those days to come.
“Uh! Get it here. I'm ready to wind down!” she exclaimed as she hustled to her next class.
The last days of school mark the transition from book bags to beach towels, when students sweat their finals but can't help but chatter with friends about upcoming Dave Matthews concerts before they clear out their lockers.
It's important for children and their families to take time together over the summer to regenerate, said Katie Poitinger, a school psychologist with the Warren County Education al Service Center.
“Now kids are pretty well packed with summer camps and activities that are planned for them, so it isn't that down time that all of us kind of need to renew and refresh ourselves,” Mrs. Poitinger said. “It may be something that people want to take a look at. There should be a time for reflection and a time to kick back and not do anything.”
Busy kids such as Nicole — who gets good grades, holds two part-time jobs and is active in student council — say summer is a welcome reprieve from a hectic school year.
“I need some recuperation,” she said. “Seriously.”
And she's happy about making the passage to her final year.
“I'm excited about being a senior,” she said. “I'm definitely looking forward to being top dog.”
For now, she'll be finding time to hang out with friends while still managing to fit in her family vacation, swimming, tennis lessons, student council activities and two jobs.
Some parents still remember how much fun summer camp could be and want to pass on the experience to their children, said Rita Boatman, director of child care for the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati.
This summer, the Y is offering 45 different day camps and specialty camps in Greater Cincinnati, including Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana, Miss Boatman said.
“I think a lot of parents, based on the memories they have of what summers were like when they were children, want to provide that same experience for children,” she said.
Steve Hamilton, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said the number of students working for pay has increased substantially since the 1950s. Still, summer is a time for “celebration and relaxation” for many students.
Besides, it's just natural for students to look forward to the end of the school year, said Bryan Blavatt, superintendent of the Boone County Schools in Northern Kentucky.
“I think once you reach spring break, then Memorial Day, everybody has reached the point where they're looking forward to the end of the year,” he said. “I think it's probably healthy for them to have time to regenerate. One of the things I encourage our school people or staff to do is take a little time with their families over the summer and relax.”
Shaunte Thomen-Brown puts it more bluntly: “I'm sick of studying.”
Today is the Kings High School sophomore's last day of school and she'll have to finish it off with two finals.
“I'll be very happy, very relieved, the stress is gone,” said Shaunte, 16.
Her sister, Camille Thomen-Brown, 11, said she is just plain sick of school.
“I don't have to get up early anymore,” said Camille, a fifth-grader at Kings' Columbia Elementary School.
Brodi Conover has mixed feelings about his last day of school today at Donovan Intermediate School in Lebanon.
“I'm going to be excited, but then I'm going to be sad because I'm not going to see my teachers,” said Brodi, who's in the fourth grade.
But Lindsay Sena said she's noticed something different about her fifth-grade classmates at Columbia Elementary this week: “They're smiling a lot more,” she said.
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