As springtime unfolds, many students anticipate the bright, sunny days of their favorite season: summer.

Summer is a time for hanging out with friends, family trips, exploring cabins, power shopping at malls, riding roller coasters and making memories. With pockets full of cash, summer is a breeze. However, in order to afford their summer fun, some students take on summer jobs. Others get money generously donated to them by their parents to enjoy events, which mostly come with a price, like Lake George, Bunker Beach, East Bethel Movie Theaters, and many more locations to shop, swim, or relax.

“I have a part time job for the parking system, like at Lake George,” said junior Rachel Hermanson, “and my favorite place to be in the summer is my bed.”

Sophomore Sam Scardgli likes to go to Bunker beach.

“I like to swim with my friends and family, and I normally spend about $30 there,”he said.

State, local and County Fairs, as well as amusement parks take money out of a teenager’s pocket.

“I spend about $70 at the state fair,” said senior Judy Meade.

Junior Austin Carlson sees Valleyfair as a fun date destination.

“I would probably spend $200 because of the price of a ticket for me and my date, food and other costs,” said Carlson. “And I think it would be worth it as long as she is happy,”.

Others like to shop til they drop.

“When it comes to shopping,” said freshman Maddy Wagner. “I would say that I spend about $500 or more on my summer outfits.”

Others choose to save money and relax by their own pool and just hang out with friends at home instead of going out every day.

“I would rather hang out at a pool party with my friends, like Travis Johnson and play Polish Ping Pong, because then I will have fun, save money, and not be judged,” said junior Lucas Niemeyer.

Along with summer costs of hanging out and having fun, college is another financial concern for students as the summer winds down.

“This summer I will be going on baseball trips to different states and each one is about $3,000,” said Niemeyer, “and this is in hopes that colleges will notice me.”

Along with traveling comes another costly topic of summer – gas money.

“I spend about $200 each month on gas,” said Niemeyer.

Most students felt the memories outweighed the dent in their pocketbooks.

“My favorite summer memory was Valleyfair when we were halfway up the wild thing,” said Niemeyer. “We got stopped because someone had a camera, and it was hilarious to see some people freak out, but it was a memory worth paying for.”