Where were you this summer?

School was out for the summer – at least for some students! For some, this summer consisted of work, school, family, friends, festivals, traveling, hiking, vacations, internships and more.

Whitney Wright, a junior at ETSU double majoring in accounting and finance, took two classes over the summer “break.” A portion of Whitney’s summer days were filled with Federal Income Tax Accounting and Financial Accounting.

“Because Federal Income Tax is one of the more difficult accounting classes, I wanted to take it during the summer so I would only have one class to focus on at a time,” says Whitney.  

In addition to being a student, Whitney is also a business owner. She runs the Dressy Owl Boutique in downtown Kingsport, and this summer the storefront got a huge remodeling. Because of the boutique’s success, Whitney was able to expand from her original space to a bigger area.  

Although she was taking classes and working extremely hard on her boutique, that’s the kind of summer Whitney enjoys – busy and productive.  

And the learning doesn’t stop whenever classes do. Amber Ramsey, an ETSU graduate student in brand and media strategy, spent the summer after receiving her Bachelor’s degree exploring Europe. She traveled with her brother, Austin Ramsey, a freshman and a Roan scholar at ETSU. Amber and Austin visited and experienced 10 countries and 27 cities in a whirlwind of 19 days.  

“Switzerland was by far my favorite country that I visited,” Amber said. “It was amazing to see snow on the mountains while it was 80 degrees where we were staying.”

They also got to see famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Palace of Versailles and its vast gardens, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the ruins of Pompeii. From the intricate architecture and beautiful flowers of Amsterdam to the cobble stone streets and colorful buildings of Colmar, France, Amber and Austin experienced a variety of cultures and ways of life in Europe over their summer trip of a lifetime.

From the beginning of May to the end of the August, those four months in between can be filled with plenty of opportunities and a multitude of stories. Artists of all kinds are welcome to share their photography, poems, paintings or other art with the East Tennessean for a chance to be featured in the personalized preview of the arts and entertainment section coming soon!