While the students of Malibu High School (MHS) are sharpening their pencils and preparing for another school year, they have a lot to reflect on from this summer. The Malibu Times checked in with four students who each had wildly diverse summers.
Girl on a mission
This summer, incoming senior Charlotte Jackson embarked on her fourth mission trip to Ethiopia with nonprofit Operation Smile.
“When you go on missions like this, you realize things that are so insignificant to us could mean the world to someone, especially people that do not have anything … every time I go to Africa, I’m blown away by meeting the happiest people, and they live with nothing,” Jackson said in an interview with The Malibu Times.
After falling in love with helping others during past mission trips, Jackson was determined to raise enough money to go to Ethiopia this year. This time, she created and sold her own artwork inspired by previous mission trips, raising thousands of dollars in a matter of one week.
Once Jackson arrived in Ethiopia, she did whatever she could to help — from playing with the kids, sorting medical records and visiting local orphanages to deliver supplies.
When asked why she does what she does, Jackson said, “Whenever you’re on a mission, there’s a specific mission high, and I can’t really articulate what it is. It’s this feeling you have when you know you’re helping others — that’s when you feel the most fulfilled.”
Going in for the catch
Incoming MHS junior Wes Davis went on three different fishing trips in the past several weeks.
Davis has traveled the world to fish, and became the youngest person ever to have two Billfish Royal Slams — lifetime achievement awards in fishing a specific species.
Earlier this summer, Davis fished along the coast of Florida and the Channel Islands, but his favorite experience this summer was fishing in Alaska. Davis spoke with The Malibu Times on the phone during the few fishing breaks he had there.
During his days in Alaska, Davis would fly out to remote areas that are only accessible via sea plane. Flying over mountains, volcanoes, brown bears, moose and glacial lakes, the award-winning fishing enthusiast took in the stunning Alaskan landscape up close.
“There’s something about flying into these remote areas [where] no one has been before you, touching fish that no one has touched before you, and flying up to the top of the glacier and eating the fish you caught for lunch 10 minutes after you caught it. It’s a thrill. [Fishing] is one of those sports with immediate gratification,” Davis shared.
On the road
Zoe Detweiler, a rising junior at MHS, decided to ditch the beaches for the summer and head across the country.
Detweiler started her summer driving through untouched desert and monumental valleys near the Four Corners — where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet. She and her family underwent a technology-free experience as they encountered cultures far different from what they were used to back home.
One of Detweiler’s favorite experiences on the road was stopping on a Hopi reservation.
“We watched Hopi dances and explored the desert because it’s so beautiful. It’s also interesting because there was no cell phone service. I got to experience the desert fully as it was supposed to be experienced,” Detweiler said.
Only a couple weeks after she returned home from the trip, Detweiler was off again; this time, to Rhode Island to attend a three-week academic camp at Brown University. Along with 1,800 other students from across the globe, Detweiler took classes on campus and interacted with people from different backgrounds.
“They were people I would have never have been exposed to if I hadn’t have left Malibu,” Detweiler said. “I learned a lot about how people all over the country live.”
Game changer
Unlike many students who are eager to get out of Malibu for the summer, incoming junior Sam Burton decided to stay local and work on his own creation.
Burton created an iOS game called Space: War — a virtual game designed to be played on iPhones and iPads where players must avoid spaceships, which will be released in the App Store soon.
This isn’t Burton’s first foray into app making, but this summer, things were different.
“This summer I had to apply myself more to make these games,” Burton explained. “Even though last summer I worked on an app, this summer I worked on two, and both were more complex — meaning I was more challenged to outdo my previous best achievement.”
Burton hopes to pursue a career in programming in the future. He believes creating these apps will help him improve and also assist him in going to college. He is currently working on another space app, which he plans to complete in the near future.
