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Kendall

Collage of summer recommendations including drinks, music, books, fruits, and food items.

Collage of summer recommendations including drinks, music, books, fruits, and food items.

Our Staff Recommends: Summer Suggestions

Look no further for the perfect list of summer recommendations. Everything from TV shows to podcasts to snacks - the Santa Clara Admission team and student ambassadors share some of our favorites from the past year!

As this wild and crazy academic year comes to a close, we’re all ready to welcome a summer full of increased free-time and opportunities. The end of school means more time to pursue passions and interests of our own, relax, and refresh. Everyone is always looking for a new show, podcast, or activity to pick up, so we thought we’d share some of our counselors’ and student ambassadors’ current favorites with you for the summer!

 

Watching:

Theo Lassen ‘23: Handmaid's Tale, Desperate Housewives

Kendall Wulbrun, Assistant Director: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), This Is Us

Claire Kreeft, Assistant Director: Mare of Easttown

Sasha Menezes ‘21: The Blacklist

Eryn Olson ‘16, Associate Director: Master of None, The Bold Type, The Good Place

Paola Garcia ‘11, Associate Director: Survivor (all-time favorite show, it never gets old)

 

Reading: 

Theo: Good Mornings: Morning Rituals for Wellness, Peace, and Purpose by Linnea Dunne

Kendall: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Taryn Chisholm ‘23: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Eryn: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Wow, No Thank You.: Essays by Samantha Irby

Will Gagan ‘22: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson

Danielle Wenzel-Sandoval ‘07, MBA ‘11, Director of Marketing: Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty

 

Listening to:

Randy Wang, MBA ‘19, Assistant Director: Seven Lions, Illenium

Taryn: Hippo Campus, Surfaces, Office Ladies (podcast)

Sasha: American Scandal (podcast)

Becky Konowicz, Dean of Undergraduate Admission: Unlocking Us with Brené Brown (podcast)

Will: Light Year by Adam Melchor feat. Lennon Stella, Evermore by Taylor Swift, How to Save a Planet (podcast)

Danielle: telepatía by Kali Uchis

 

Eating/drinking:

Randy: Milk tea!

Kendall: lots of fresh fruit, avocado toast with TJs sourdough bread and feta cheese, strawberry lemonade Synergy kombucha

Claire: mixed fruit with tajin, chickpeas in any form, La Croix (#TeamPamplemousse)

Taryn: apple sauce squeezes, Trader Joe’s frozen foods, smoothies

Eryn: shrimp tacos, vegan chickpea white chili, creamy vegan southwest pasta salad, all the summer fruits!

Will: A lot of Otter Pops!

 

Enjoying:

Randy: learning/relearning a new language!

Claire: hand-lettering, digital illustration, Trader Joe’s fresh flowers

Taryn: playing ukulele, journaling, running

Sasha: surfing and hiking

Becky: cycling, gardening

Will: Ripstiking!

Paola: I recently tried macramé - who knew knots could make something beautiful!

 

Buying:

Randy: Dance Dance Revolution Pad

Theo: Local restaurants!

Kendall: supporting my friend’s new small business (@everyonescollective on Instagram) that sells all sorts of sustainable and eco-friendly products

Claire: Borba Farms produce - it’s not only great produce but also run by close family friends!

Eryn: SewAttachedByAsh (on Etsy), @browngrrl.fly (on Instagram)

Danielle: small business t-shirts with unique designs (@bykystudios and @bossmomnation)

 

Travelling to (as things begin to open up and we get vaccinated):

Randy: Going to Hawaii!

Claire: Hope to visit Croatia and Ireland (where my family is from)...maybe for my honeymoon if things have generally resumed in time.

Sasha: Hoping to visit Banff National Park!

Eryn: California road tips to San Luis Obispo, Hermosa Beach, and Muir Woods in Marin County

Becky: Heading to Cape Cod to visit family and friends

Will: Hoping to visit my cousins in Austria!

Paola: I’d love to visit all 50 U.S. states, so I’m eyeing a trip to Florida soon!

 

Recommending:

Randy: Jairen Tea near SCU is pretty good!

Claire: Find a podcast that makes you laugh and listen to it on an afternoon walk away from screens. I kid you not, building this 20 minutes a day into my schedule has been life-changing.

Sasha: Yellowstone National Park is a must-see American destination!

Danielle: I wish in high school I would have known to pick at least one international news outlet to follow. It’s good to get a global perspective on US-related events -- and to just keep up to date on world issues.

 

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