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Do you ever sit at home on your couch on a summer’s day and ask yourself, “I wonder what exciting things my friends are doing right now?” If you know what fun activities your friends and family do during summer vacation, it may inspire you to do more things. For example, summer vacation is about three months (for kids anyway), and all you do all summer is go to camp and your grandparents’ house. But your friends go on vacation for a few weeks, then hang out with their friends for a few days, go to camp for a week, and then chill at home until school starts again. You may be inspired to do more things like going to a water park instead of sitting at home, playing video games all summer. The point of this article is to inspire me, my friends, and maybe even you to get ideas for summer vacation, which is why I’m interviewing some people in my class for some fun ideas. 

Debi says, “I went to summer camp at the YMCA last year.” Lucia says, “I’m going to Italy and London this summer, and for camp, I’m going to sleepaway camp at a camp called “Camp Middlesex” with Olivia, Mathilde, Mia and Jeanie.” That definitely inspired me to go on vacation! Next is Guillem. “I go to Spain, and I go to the beach a lot, and I watch the FC Barcelona games, and I have a lot of fun.” Olivia describes summer vacation as, “Exciting! I’m going to Ireland, New Hampshire, tennis camp, and sleepaway camp.” All of these people seem to be doing really fun things for summer. 

Now I’m going to tell you about fun places to go for the summer that I‘ve been to that I think you would like!

Camps

One camp I’m going to go for summer break is called “Camp Sewataro.” At my camp, we swim in the pond and pools, and every once in a while, there are really fun activities we do such as water balloon fights, hide-and-seek, and once the counselors even competed in a belly-flop test down a gigantic slide. We ride on a zipline, swim, fish, create lasting friendships, and much more! I definitely recommend this camp! 

Location: Sudbury, MA

I also used to go to a camp called Drumlin Farm. At Drumlin Farm, you learn how to do all sorts of farm-like things like milking cows, collecting chicken eggs, and feeding pigs. There is a place called the bird section where the caregivers take in birds that have been hurt or are sick. We also made butter and more delicious food that only tastes that awesome if you make it yourself. I loved it so much that I decided to go for 5 years! I definitely recommend Drumlin Farm!    

Location: Lincoln, MA

Family Activities

Along with camps, there are lots of great family activities in Massachusetts that I like to go to, such as Great Wolf Lodge, Six flags, and Kimball Farm. I will elaborate on these fun places in the next few paragraphs.

I like going to Great Wolf Lodge, a hotel with a huge indoor water park. They serve awesome snacks like sweet potato fries, Dippin’ Dots, and ice cream. It is a great place to go overnight or just for the day when you have nothing else to do because there is a variety of things to do such as sliding down water slides, shopping in the Great Wolf Lodge gift shop where you can buy all sorts of merchandise. You can also go to the arcade, win prizes, get ice cream and other refreshing snacks. (The sweet potato fries are personally my favorite.) Great Wolf Lodge is truly a really fun place to stay!

Location: Fitchburg, MA

The next place on the list is Six Flags. Six Flags is an amusement park with roller coasters, candy, lunches, and… fun! It is a great place to go when you’re in the mood for the thrill of a ride. And during Halloween, there is a Six Flags Fright Fest where there are all sorts of scary Halloween decorations and rides only for the Fright Fest! Like the Haunted House, which I did not want to go into when we went there. Mainly because a visitor got so spooked, they spilled water all over the haunted house. But not only do they have rides and snacks, but there is also a water park! Six Flags really has it all!

Location: Agawam, MA

The last and final place is Kimball Farm, which isn’t actually as much of a farm as you might think. They serve ice cream at the entrance and fried food in a different building. But both foods are equally tasty. There are batting cages, a miniature golf course, a volleyball net, and a pitch and putt golf course. There is so much more to do, but those are my favorite things to do. I think that Kimball farm is very, very fun! 

Location: Westford, MA

I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely inspired to do lots of things for this year’s summer break. I hope you were too!

The  Ave Maria is a prayer mostly used when praying a rosary or asking Mary to be your intercessor and pray for you (most likely used with a litany of Saint Mary to ask to pray for you). In Sacred Scripture, it says, "And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Mary then went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and her cousin exclaimed, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." This was where it originated, and eventually, it was turned into a chant in the 16th century. It is now highly used as a prayer known as the Ave Maria. But when I say Ave Maria, it's just the Hail Mary in Latin.

The Ave Maria song was first made famous by Franz Schubert composition in 1825.  The popular lyrics were added later.  (Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles-François Gounod composed a different version in 1859) Here are the lyrics in the original Latin:

Ave Maria

Gratia plena

Maria, gratia plena

Maria, gratia plena

Ave, ave dominus

Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus

Et benedictus fructus ventris

Ventris tuae, Jesus.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria

Mater Dei

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus

Ora pro nobis

Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus

Nunc et in hora mortis

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Ave Maria

In English, it is translated to:

Hail Mary, full of grace,

Mary, full of grace,

Mary, full of grace,

Hail, Hail, the Lord.

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed,

Blessed is the fruit of thy womb,

Thy womb, Jesus.

Hail Mary!

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners,

Pray, pray for us;

Pray, pray for us sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death,

The hour of our death

The hour of our death,

The hour of our death

Hail Mary.

The Hail Mary is also continuously repeated in the rosary to honor Mary, and the Mysteries of the Rosary are sorted into five groups. The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary.

Saint Peter School is a good school, but I won't be coming here next year. I like singing, so I’m going to a choir school. The closest choir school to Saint Peter School is Saint Paul’s Choir School. Saint Paul’s Choir School is a Catholic choir school for boys. It’s for grades 3-8, but the choir is for grades 5-8. But if your voice changes, then you’ll be an altar server.

 Saint Paul’s Choir School was founded in 1963 by Theodore Marier and Mr. Augustine Hickey. Theodore Norbert Marier was a church musician, educator, arranger, and scholar of Gregorian Chant. He is considered one of the most important liturgical musicians in the English-speaking world. 

Saint Paul's Choir School is the only Catholic boys' choir school in the US. According to the school's mission statement, "Saint Paul’s Choir School is a school for boys in grades 3 through 8 and is a vital part of Saint Paul’s Parish in Harvard Square. Guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church, we work in partnership with committed parents and inspirational teachers to form the faith, character, and intellectual and musical abilities of our young men. Our goals are to help students pursue their highest God-given potential, prepare them for the strongest secondary schools and beyond, and equip them to become virtuous leaders who serve God and the world." 

There are a lot of cultural events at Saint Paul's. Every Wednesday, there is an elegant lunch. Elegant lunch is when a parent makes lunch for the whole school. On Thursday, they have Vespers. The school is dismissed at 3:15. Every year, they have a special event. This year, they went to Chicago, New York, etc. Last year, they went to Italy, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), etc. Next year, they are going to France, the BSO, and other musical events. 

And that is what Saint Paul's Choir School Is.

Have you ever wondered what March Madness is? Well, in this article, I'm going to tell you all about it. I will tell you about the history, how the league works, and basically all about March Madness. 

  March Madness is a basketball competition on TV. It started in the NCAA, a member-led organization founded in 1906 to regulate the rules of college sports and protect young athletes.  March Madness starts with 63 teams that play each other, and eventually, the championships start. The teams that play each other have bets placed on them, each game is very interesting, and once the championships begin everyone dives into the game! This year, the teams who played each other in the finals were the UConn Huskies and Purdue. The winner of the match was The Huskies.  Many people enjoyed watching the game.

 March Madness entered our school this year. March Madness is a book competition that every grade participated in. We read books and voted on which we liked best. Our class nominated "Hot on the Trail in Ancient Egypt."

I hope you enjoyed learning all about March Madness. 

The annual night after dark at St Peter's is a gala prize at the yearly gala for parents at St Peter's School. This year, Michael won the prize with eleven students of his choice. The eleven students were Declan, Guillem, Eamon, Paul, Ian, Lucia, Isla, Enzo, Andreas, Mathilde, and Olivia. It is a game of hide-and-seek. The teachers are the seekers, and you can hide anywhere but in the kitchen and some places. 

  The Night After Dark at St. Peter's is really fun. I had a blast, and so did my classmates. Here is what Enzo thought of it: “It was fun and exciting. My favorite part about it was playing hide-and-seek with the teachers. " 

I would say that my favorite part about the night was the Scavenger hunt. The night after dark was a very fun memory for the teachers and our class. We will always cherish the fun memory of the night of # at St Peter's School.