First things first — let me introduce myself. My name is Andy Samuels and I am a senior at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Greenwood Village is a suburb 15 minutes south of Denver proper. Most teens’ parents who live in Greenwood Village are professionals who work downtown or at the Denver Tech Center, also located in Greenwood Village. It’s been a wonderful place to grow up, and I have certainly made memories here to last a lifetime.

Cherry Creek, or just “Creek” as we call it, is a phenomenal high school with close to 4,000 students. Its size means students have the freedom to explore most anything they want to and the resources to stretch their interests as far as they feel comfortable taking them. There truly is something at Creek for everyone. Trouble is, that “something” has turned into just about everything for me at Creek. I’m involved in a lot, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love all the organizations I’m in, and the best part about that is that whenever I love what I’m doing, it never really seems like work.

Throughout my high school journey, I have been involved with the tennis team, the swim team, the German Honor Society (GHS), the National Honor Society (NHS), the Creek Coalition (an organization which raises money through service clubs here at school to promote education abroad), Peer Ambassadors (a peer counseling program), and the school newspaper. I have had various degrees of involvement with all of these organizations, but senior year may turn out to be the busiest ever. I learn a lot from clubs and teams at my school. That’s certainly the case when it comes to life lessons at least, and that’s why I’ve gotten so heavily involved with activities outside of school.

I thrive when I’m busy and that is both a blessing and a curse. While it certainly is exciting to be back in the swing of things here in school, the summer was quite a welcome change of pace and scenery for me. I slowed things down to a summer’s pace, but I did not waste the gift of time.

For example, after I finished my tests last year, I devoted my time to studying for the ACT. I had taken it once before, but I needed to take the test again, this time with writing. I also wanted to try to bump my score up a couple points, so I bought the Real ACT Prep Guide and abided by the old adage that practice makes perfect. I tried to take practice tests under somewhat realistic conditions (especially the timing) to get some good practice. I then went over the answers and really made sure I understood why I missed the ones I did by talking about them with teachers or friends who understood them well. I took the test the first week of June. I made sure to get in a regular sleeping pattern, starting a couple days before the test. For me at least, my performance on tests is significantly different when I have had a consistent few nights of good sleep compared to when I have not.

The night before the ACT, I printed MapQuest directions to the high school testing site, and they seemed pretty easy, but … a few wrong turns and a couple of very nice locals later, I finally arrived at the testing site, ready to go. (Hopefully my mistake can serve as a lesson to you — added stress the day of the test is never a plus!) I brought a couple bottles of water and a few of my favorite food bars with me for the breaks. Getting up between tests, walking around, drinking some water and eating a bar helped me to stay energized and focused throughout the test. I thought the test went well, but boy was I relieved when it was over. I walked out of that high school, and the realization that it was summer finally hit me. I celebrated with friends by playing a couple pick-up games of basketball and then going to the pool.

The Monday after the ACT, I started my first day of work. I worked in downtown Denver for a company called Examiner.com. They offer a completely online approach to the local newspaper. It was very interesting to see this company’s approach to the world of “new” media. I worked there for a month as an intern. I did a lot of writing; in fact, I wrote more than 50 articles for their site. In addition to writing, I also shadowed various people in this company to get a better sense of what they do, which was really fun and exciting for me. To interact with adults and learn about their careers was great because they were often passionate about what they did and excited to share. From learning about HTML coding to learning about social media marketing, I walked away from the Examiner with a lot more knowledge than when I began. I am extremely grateful for such an experience.

After working at Examiner.com, I moved out to San Francisco for a month to live with my uncle and work for the San Francisco Examiner. I wanted to work for a print newspaper after working for a completely online newspaper to contrast the experience of working for “new” media and working for “old” media. It certainly was an interesting contrast. My time working for the SF Examiner was also a wonderful experience. They published my work; they even published one of my articles on the front page. It was really exciting to work as a reporter, investigating stories and going around the city to interview people. There is also something to be said for being able to walk down a street, pick up a newspaper and see your name printed in black ink.

Living in another city without my parents or brother, for however brief a time, was also a really rewarding experience. It was a great way for me to prepare for the non-scholastic aspects of college — things like learning to use public transit in a new city, learning to wash my own clothes, and being responsible for my own meals. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for my parents to give up a month of their second-to-last summer with me, but it was a really rewarding experience. Living away from home this summer helped me to feel more comfortable about the level of independence I will experience in college.

My internship ended with some time left for me to relax before school started, and here I find myself now – talking about the summer in the past tense for the first time.