Remember those essays written on the first day of school titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation?” Sometimes it was a struggle to think of any productive activity aside from hours at the pool or the proverbial family vacation.

But students these days have a wide variety of summer programs to not only keep them busy during those days off, but to enhance their knowledge and skills. Examples of programs range from high quality arts programs and leadership seminars to on-the-job training and athletic camps.

Kyra Kennedy, daughter of Dr. Tom and Betsy Kennedy, has performed in both the Muskogee High School All-School Musical and Muskogee Little Theater productions. In June Kyra attended Oklahoma City University’s High School Music Theater Summer Camp. OCU is known as one of the top five musical theater schools in the nation. Kyra was chosen as one of 48 students admitted from a pool of applicants around the U.S.

A production of “Sweeney Todd” completed the two-and-a-half week program that consisted of master theater classes, dance instruction and acting courses taught by the university’s professors.

“This showed me how to work professionally and made me fall even more in love with musical theater as a whole,” said Kennedy, who plans on majoring in musical theater.

Hope Hoog, daughter of Laurie Hoog and Steven Hoog, participated for a second summer in the Quartz Mountain Summer Arts Institute sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. Hope was chosen for the Quartz Mountain Institute along with a little more than 200 other students from a pool of over 2,000 applicants. Hope takes classical ballet lessons from the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education, which has provided many dancers for Tulsa Ballet Theater. She has been in nine performances of “The Nutcracker” with the Tulsa Ballet.

Hope said the most gratifying part of the experience was working with Flavio Salazar, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater. This pre-professional training reinforced her love of dance.

Son Truong, son of Lily Truong and Lee Nguyen, is facing a full schedule of Advanced Placement courses at Muskogee High School this year, except for one slot during last period. That slot is taken up by wrestling. Instead of sleeping in and relaxing this summer, Son has dedicated himself to training for the upcoming year. Every morning he awoke at 6 a.m. to attend Rougher Pride, an academic and physical training program.

A catharsis came, however, when he attended All American Wrestling Camp at Southwestern State in Winfield, Kan., during June. The second day of camp Son pulled a muscle and was out for the rest of the camp. But he was out only physically, as his mind set and dedication to his sport were incited by watching his teammates. He realized that he had been given an opportunity that most people do not have.

“The greatest feeling came over me,” Son said. “I made a commitment to myself to not let anything stand in my way to keep me or my team from being successful this year.” Son said he works out now even when he is just sitting there studying, because he does not want anyone to get ahead of him.

Lamont Lee, son of Lansing Lee, was chosen to participate in OG&E’s “Virtual High School” program. In order to participate, students must pass three qualifying courses and exams. Lamont passed the first round of exams and was the only qualifier in the state. Through the program Lamont is taking online college courses in electricity technology. After high school graduation and earning his associates degree, he will enter the workforce at OG&E making around $65,000 per year. He will then go on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Because Lamont was the only qualifying participant, his summer camp was canceled, but he did get an in-depth tour of the OG&E plant to help him decide if he would enjoy pursuing this career.

Learning to help her community was the primary focus of Lauren Ragsdale’s summer. Lauren, daughter of Bruce and Melanie Ragsdale, was one of only 10 students in the state to attend OSU’s Agriculture Education Academy in June. Students lived in the dorms and attended classes taught by college professors. Lauren was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to attend OSU after she graduates from MHS.

Lauren also attended the National FFA Washington Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., with other FFA members from her school. The conference focused on creating a living-to-serve plan that the young people could take back to their communities. Lauren developed a plan for cancer prevention and anti-bullying education. She also got to meet U.S. Congressman Dan Boren.