ShawneeDispatch.com

Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories about the Class of 2010, a group of students at area high schools The Dispatch has followed since they entered high school as freshmen in 2006.

Fifteen-year-old Lianna Dang's summer break hasn't begun, but it's already jam-packed with trips and activities.

The Shawnee Mission Northwest sophomore just finished her first recital with the HK Chinese Folk Dance group Saturday, but practices will continue in the summer as the group prepares for another performance.

In June, Lianna plans on taking gym during summer school.

"It might be fun," she said. "I don't want to take it in the school year and have to do it every day and have gym class in the middle of the day."

Then in July, Lianna will be off to Kansas University, where she will attend Project Discovery, a weeklong engineering camp for high school girls.

Lianna said she found out about the program, which is designed to introduce girls to engineering fields, at a college fair she attended last year.

"We visited the KU area and there was a lot of stuff," she said. "They handed us all these different fliers. When I looked through them I was like 'Hey, that's cool,' but I didn't have time last summer because it was the same time as Girl Scouts."

This year Lianna has enough time to squeeze in Project Discovery before heading off to Girl Scouts Camp, where her first day at camp will be a big day.

"I turn 16 on the first day of Girls Scout Camp, which will be amazing," she said.

During her sophomore year, Lianna said she got more involved in school activities and joined the Academic Decathlon.

"I got to be on the state team and I was named third best alternate in the state," she said.

She also attended the homecoming dance with a foreign exchange student, but Lianna said it wasn't a date.

"It was more like we are just friends, type of thing," she said.

Brice Edwards, a sophomore at Mill Valley, said he would spend his summer break working at the concession stand at the Mid America Sports Complex off of Johnson Drive.

"My friend wanted to work there and I ended up going there with him to fill out an application," Brice said. "I got hired on the spot, and he's still waiting to get hired."

He will cook hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken and fries. He also will work the cash register.

Brice said his goal is to save up his money.

"I think that's what I want to save up for, a car," he said

Other than working, Brice's summer plans involve traveling with his family to Virginia Beach, Va., and then to Florida or California.

This school year, Brice said he didn't get involved with much, except his forensics class. Next year he will take a broadcast journalism class.

Steven Carver, a sophomore at Shawnee Mission Northwest, said his summer would consist of a lot of basketball.

Steven is part of the Kansas City Keys basketball team. Founded in 1976, the Kansas City Keys is a nonprofit youth development organization that offers extracurricular activities to teach children about personal responsibility and life skills.

This summer Steven will attend a camp at Kansas State University as part of the Kansas City Keys. He also will play in a tournament in New York City.

Though he doesn't have a regular job, Steven said he does mow lawns to make extra money. He drives a Ford F150, but hasn't had to worry about paying the increasing cost at the pump.

"My parents help me out with gas, for now," he said.

During his sophomore year, Steven took honors math and played basketball and was on the track team. He also was part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

As St. James Academy sophomore Megan McNally looked back at the school year, she realized she was about to be an upperclassman.

"I don't know, I feel older and it's weird," she said. "I don't want to be all grown up yet."

Megan turned 16 in March and got her license, and now she has more freedom.

"I went and baby-sat, and I didn't have to get my mom up and everything," she said.

This summer, Megan will spend her time in Irish dance competitions.

"We practice two or three days a week as a formal class, but I practice more at home," she said. "I've been doing it since I was 5."

Aside from dance practice, Megan will spend some of her summer working at Lake Quivira, teaching summer classes to youths.

"I've been mowing yards since I was 7, but this is my first formal job," she said.

She also will attend soccer camp for St. James Academy. Megan said she wants to try tennis this year and she also wants to get more involved in her school's spirit club. She said her time spent on the spirit club taught her leadership.

"I think I've grown in confidence and leadership a lot," she said. "I met more people than I did my freshman year. I feel I am becoming more of a somebody out at St. James and getting more involved at St. James."

Comments