Graduation, parties, beach week—it must be the first two weeks of June in Potomac. Many Potomac grads are preparing for college, while others just have to see the world first. Zac Trupp plans to do both.
Trupp, of Thomas Wootton High School’s ’07 graduating class, will spend his first year out of high school in Israel.
"When I started looking at my college plans, I decided that this was the best thing for me to do because I didn’t want to take a year off from education, but I wanted to get a chance to explore different things" said Trupp.
During the first half of the year Trupp will attend Hebrew University in Jerusalem for a few months and then later he will work on a kibbutz farm just outside the city. Trupp became interested in the program ast year, when was one of 13 students selected by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism to spend 14 days in Jerusalem with other students in the group.
"My father was really supportive," said Trupp. "My mom was more uncertain because she preferred I go straight to a university to get a more traditional freshmen year of college."
Trupp plans on returning to to the U.S. the following year to attend the University of Maryland.
Gannon Castner ’07 graduate of Holton-Arms school will take a full year off of school to travel to Ecuador. There she will intern with a company that is turning an island in the Guayas River into an EcoPark that provides information about the environment.
"I want to become fluent in Spanish and I have an interest in Latin American culture, so this was everything I was looking for." Said Castner.
Castner will return home the following year to the Renaselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she plans on majoring in civil engineering.
OTHER STUDENTS will work at summer jobs or internships throughout the summer months before the big move to college.
Emilie Kimball, National Cathedral ’07 graduate from Potomac, plans on continuing the work she began last summer with Koby A. Koomson, Ghana’s former ambassador to the U.S. Kimball will collect laptops to send to high schools in Ghana.
Kimball traveled to Ghana two summers ago on an internship with Women in Progress, a nonprofit that helps women develop businesses in West Africa. She organized a fundraiser for Women in Progress at the Ghanaian Embassy as a junior last year, and started a pen-pal program with high-school students she met while in Ghana. .
After the summer, Kimball plans to attend Wesleyan University, possibly majoring in economics.
JESSICA ETTINGER expects that a larger community several hours away will expand her horizons. A Holton-Arms ‘07 graduate, Ettinger will attend the University of Virginia next year and plans to double major in English and Business.
"I am excited about meeting new people," Ettinger said. "My entire school experience has been based in small environments and I think I will get a better understanding of different people’s perspectives."