With last year’s COVID breakout, a lot of the normal activities changed, and even summer felt the effects of the pandemic. Kids weren’t free to do as much as in previous summers and places were closed that people used to always go to. But, it’s been a year of dealing with COVID, and with regulations softening, this summer will look a lot different from previous years.

“I think it will be much different. Now that my family is vaccinated, I am able to hang out with my friends as much as I want, and eat at indoor restaurants,” Julia Touvannas, junior, said. “I am excited that things such as six flags are open again!”

Many students are likely to share Touvannas’ optimism for this summer considering all the developments and steps towards success. There is a clear difference this year from the past year according to Becky Tartakovsky, a sophomore.

“Last summer could have been a lot worse than it was for me and my friends. Because we started hanging out right when quarantine started we basically spent the entire summer together and only hung around each other. We did a lot of outdoor activities and rode our bikes every day, sometimes even up to 16 miles,” Tartakovsky said. “Although we made the most out of our covid summer we missed out on many things like big 4th of July events, hanging out with other people and going to public places such as the mall and traveling.” 

Hopefully, this summer will get more freedom and get to include all of those big events people missed last year, and Touvannas feels like this is more and more likely as time goes on.

“Guidelines are already less harsh than last summer, so I think it will continue in that trend. Although I am vaccinated, I think I will wear a mask most of the time just so that other people around me are comfortable,” Touvannas said. “I don’t think the summer will be totally normal yet, but it will certainly be better than last year, which is a huge improvement.”

Despite summer probably not being completely normal, a lot of students are still optimistic for summer and think it will still be good.

“I am super excited for this summer because now that my friends and I all have our licenses we can do more things even if that just means driving around. Many COVID mandates are getting less strict such as the mask mandate if you are fully vaccinated,” Tartakovsky said. “Over the weekend my friends and I went to Beelow’s and if you are fully vaccinated you do not need to wear a mask which is really nice. I feel like there will be a lot more normalcy this summer with things like that as well as more things opened up than last summer. I think that guidelines will be less harsh, as they already are. If a store doesn’t require me to wear a mask I personally will not be wearing one. I feel that if someone wants to continue to wear their mask in public places then go for it! But if there is not a mandate on it for fully vaccinated people such as myself, then I will be more than happy to stop wearing one.”