By Henry Thompson
It’s the first week of school, and you’re a Lovett parent who has been tasked with braving the chaos of carpool at the start of the year to pick up your child. Luckily, you’re smart, so you plan ahead and arrive early, skipping the line and the hassle. Feeling pretty proud of yourself, you recline in your seat, carefully chipping away at your work and enjoying the sunlight pouring through the windows in your comfortably air-conditioned car.
Suddenly, a shadow falls over your laptop; a light tap sounds from your passenger side window. Although momentarily confused and perhaps wondering if you’re in trouble, you roll down your window and see an OnLion reporter, yours truly, hoping to interview you.
While they were (understandably) a little bewildered and skeptical at first, these carpoolers, and one very excitable dog named Oliver, quickly warmed up to the idea, gifting us a look into how a Lovett family might spend their summer.
Quickly checking off one of the classic summer break staples, the first person I approached was the father of a summer camper. “She was in camp all summer, so she got to have some fun,” he explained, the “she” referring to his seventh-grade daughter, volleyball player, and, of course, soon-to-arrive carpoolee (what I assume must be one who gets carpooled).
Although I would soon learn that his daughter participated in multiple camps over the summer, a volleyball camp was the star of the show, taking up a whole two weeks of that precious summer vacation.
There were some commonalities between cars, with over half of the parents bringing up the oppressive heat Atlanta is famous for. “It was just a normal summer,” said Ms. Sahra Ahmed, mother of eleventh grader Safia Geurin, “It’s just too hot.”
Fortunately for them, their summer, in spite of the heat, sounded pretty fun. Activities she and her daughter took part in together included mostly sports, volunteer work, and staying social with friends. She regaled with tales of working at retirement homes and going for long runs in the hot sun.
While the latter may sound torturous to the vast majority of students at the Lovett School, Ms. Ahmed put it simply: “It’s what I love to do.”
With that, I decided it was time to move on to the rest of the line.
Now, think to yourself, what is one way to escape the heat of an Atlanta summer? While many classic solutions may come to mind, like going to the pool or just staying indoors with that sweet, sweet air conditioning, there is another solution: just don’t be in Atlanta.
A couple of families opted for this approach, one of which, the Ansari family, took to the extreme, visiting Glacier National Park for a week or so. (Evidently, the Ansaris find themselves on the “really cold” side of the hot or cold question.) Ms. Ansari described the experience as both “interesting and fun.” Their time in the park must have been enough excitement for one summer though, as they spent the rest of the break cashing in on vacation’s most valuable resource: free time to do nothing.
Another family took a different approach to summer travels, opting to spend the entire break in one place: New York City. Both of the Stevens kids participated in multiple summer programs. “Our daughter was dancing with the American Ballet Theater for five weeks,” Ms. Stevens explained, “and then our son went to NYU for two weeks and then to Broadway Artists Alliance, summer intensive for a week.”
She smiled fondly at the memory of a summer well spent.
But of course, as is the nature of summer break, it all has to end; all roads lead to the front or back gate of the Lovett School on that fateful first day of school and the ensuing nine months of work, socializing, and learning.
Despite the many negatives often associated with the inevitable return to campus, the parents were in good cheer. Whether it was because they were hopeful for a new year or because they were just excited for their kids to be out of their hair, Ms. Ahmed put it best: “We just want it to go smooth; we love it here and we want to enjoy it.”
And these parents are doing their best to keep things smooth during carpool while the campus is under construction.
One parent said she’d been arriving at 2:15. Another said it’s important to get here “really early if you try to get your students out quickly.”
While it’s been challenging, it’s not necessarily anything new for August. “I mean, it’s always kind of bad at the beginning of the year,” a parent said. “But this is just, I don’t know, another level.”
Of course, acceptance is perhaps the most peaceful philosophy. As one parent told me, “It is what it is.”
