Interview with Clayton

We are honored to have Clayton as our featured student this week. We hope you enjoy getting to know Clayton a little bit better!

What's a typical day look like for you this summer?
Well, I sleep until 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Get up and eat breakfast, check the garden to see what has grown overnight. We have cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes and basil growing in our garden. I go to the pool. Play with my dogs and take them on walks in the neighborhood. I have been eating lots of good food: fresh vegetables, peach cobbler, ice cream and cheesy noodles, of course. I play until dark then hang out inside reading or watching T.V. Then I go to bed by 10:00 or 10:30 p.m.

Have you been any place special? What was it like?
Yes. I went to the Isle of Palms, to Columbia to visit my Grandparents and to a Pine Tree Farm in Wagner, SC. All of my trips were awesome. I love swimming in the ocean. We went to The Columbia Zoo and saw fireworks at midnight on the Fourth of July. The farm had three ponds we could swim and fish in. I caught a 2 ½ pound bass and we ate it for dinner. We tried to shoot a potato gun, but it wouldn’t work, so we shot off fireworks instead. It was great!

Right before school starts, My Dad and I are taking a trip to California for 10 days. I am most excited about visiting Alcatraz Prison.

What's your favorite summertime activity? What do you love best about the summer?
My favorite summertime activity is definitely going to the pool. I get to hang out with my friends and I like to dive down deep in the water. The best thing about the summer is having no homework.

What good books have you read so far?
I read Medusa Jones early in the summer. My Mom and I read The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. I have also been re-reading some of my favorite books from when I was younger.

Have you picked up any new hobbies this summer?
I have done a little bit of weight lifting while my Mom works out. I like gardening. I love to cook. I created a pasta recipe that I have shared with many of my family members.

If you have any questions or comments for Clayton, just leave a comment below. I know he'd love to hear from you!

Interview with Alaina

One of the ideas I mentioned earlier in the summer was to interview former students from Room 241 and post the interview to the blog. I sent Alaina (08-09 alumni) a set of questions, and she graciously emailed me back with her responses and even included a few pictures. Here is the interview with Alaina...

What's a typical summer day look like for you?
I wake up, eat breakfast, go to Team Greenville (a year-round swim team) around 8:00. After TG practice, I go to Stone Lake (the summer pool) and play around with my friends. Then, I go home and eat lunch, rest at home for a little bit, then, go back to Stone Lake for afternoon practice, then, do something besides swimming, such as: biking, walking the dogs, playing on the computer, then, I eat dinner, get ready for bed and then go to bed! Some weekends I have TG meets and on Thursdays or Tuesdays I might have a Stone Lake meet.

Have you been any place special? What was it like?

On the second week of June, my friend, Ashley, and I went to Clemson Swim Camp. We stayed for 5 days and "lived" in dorms and swam at Clemson's indoor pool with the Clemson coaches. We learned a bunch of new drills and did lots of dryland workouts. What's really cool is that we got to eat in Harcombe Dining Hall. They had so many things to choose from!! They have REALLY good salad and awesome frozen yogurt!

I also went to the Isle of Palms beach with my family and our cousins. It was really fun because we got to see our cousins we hadn't seen in a while. We went with my mom's side of the family to the beach and in August, we are visiting my dad's side of the family in Pennsylvania and going to an amusement park!

What's your favorite summertime activity? What do you love best about the summer?

My favorite summertime activity is swimming, I'm usually swimming in an indoor pool and always getting better at my strokes and concentrating on what I'm doing - but in the summer, we can just sit around and jump in the pool and do handstands and try to do cool tricks off the blocks. I also like Diving. Flips and twists and those kinds of things are really cool to try to do.
Hmmm, what I like best about summer. . . that's a tough one. I think I'd have say seeing my summer friends and spending more time with them, and I'd say vacation because I like going places.

What good books have you read so far?
I read a book called, The Outsiders. It was pretty good, a little scary though. Its about greaser or "hoods" and well-fed, healthy people with nice homes and their lives. I also read a book called, Poppy. I really enjoyed it because of the animals and the action in the story. My favorite character was Poppy and I liked Ereth (Poppy's porcupine friend) alot also. I read a book called, The Sister Grimm. . . the fifth in the series, I think. It was about the Grimm Sisters' kind-of-brother, Puck, being sick and they had to take him to a special fairy-tale land. Puck ends up being next for the throne and many things start going wrong.

What summertime advice can you give our blog readers?
Over the summer, you will have more time during the school year, so you should pick a sport or activity that you would really like the focus on and put your mind to. If you really believe in yourself, you will exceed farther in that activity. :)

Have you picked up any new hobbies this summer?

Umm. . .not really. I did figure out that I love to play Scrabble, when I never really used to play it.

If you could do anything on a summer day, what would you do? What would your day look like?
I would want it to be a warm day but a bit foggy. I would want there to be not direct sunlight but the sun be hiding behind some fog. I would probably go to the lake and go tubing with some friends. Or I would want it to be a really sunny, hot, hot day with a bright blue sky and the slightest breeze. I would go to all the amusement parks I could with my family and a few family friends.

What's something interesting that no one knows about you (that would be fun to share)?
I have a huge birthmark on my back, and you can only see it in the summertime when I'm wearing my swim suit.

This picture is me, my brother, Bryan and my friend, Annie Hope, in the clubhouse at Stone Lake while they are deciding to continue the swim meet due to severe weather.

This picture is of me and my dog, Koda, on a hot summer day after taking him on a long walk around the neighborhood.

If YOU are a former student of Room 241 and would like to be interviewed, just leave a comment under this post or send me an email. I'm sure many of you have questions or comments for Alaina, so just leave them in the comments section below - I know she will love hearing from you.