From summer travels to summer gigs in a band, students share their summer memories. (photo used with permission)

Summer was a wild ride for senior Paige Groves and junior Michael Peterson.

Groves and Peterson spent their summers in very different ways. Groves went on a trip to the northern state of Idaho to visit various parks and friends, while Peterson stayed in Texas to enter a competition with his band.

“I’d have to say kayaking was probably my favorite part of the summer,” Groves said, “followed closely by my trip to Yellowstone.”

Groves and her friends spent their summer with deer, elk and buffalo. In Island Park, a campground in the mountains, Groves went kayaking, chasing her friends down river and trying to tip their boats over. In Yellowstone she witnessed geysers spewing volcanic water into the sky.

“The water we kayaked on wasn’t very rough, but it was freezing,” Groves said.

This summer Peterson, and his three man band, MP3, practiced hard for a battle of the bands competition at The Door, a club in Deep Ellum, in which they won second place.

“I was thrilled to place,” Peterson said. “We haven’t been a band for that long so it really boosted my confidence in our abilities.”

MP3 started playing together in June of 2012. They played small gigs for different clubs before, but this was their first battle of the bands competition. In order to get into the top three, the band first had to win a qualifying match, in which six out of ten bands advanced to semi-finals. In the semi-finals MP3 decided to play the songs Spirit of the Radio by Rush, and a rock rendition of Turkish March by Mozart because they are more difficult and would impress the judges more.

“We played some pretty hard songs during the semi finals because we really wanted to impress people,” Peterson said.

After passing the semi-finals and making it into the top three, Peterson’s band won $300 for placing second in the competition overall.

“I’m really happy about how we did in the competition after all those practices,” Peterson said.

Groves spent the last days of her summer relaxing and preparing for school.

“I’m sad that summer is over,” Groves said. “but I’m really excited for my senior year. I think it’s going to be a really awesome experience.”