Germantown Academy students have enjoyed the past summer. From beaches to vacations, many students could get a taste of the sun and a little freedom from the regular school schedule. Although some students welcomed the hiatus of schoolwork from other countries, states, or cities, many GA students were able to have their action-packed summer close to home.
A passion project he has been working on since Nov. 2023, Winston Sun ‘25 focused his summer on growing his microgreens business, which sells products in his local food markets.
“My main goal this summer was to find expansion in farmer’s markets and grocery stores by emailing and showing up with samples,” Sun said.
Using a method of persistence and hard work, alongside his continuous deliveries to Dekalb Produce in Blue Bell, Sun transitioned from Ambler’s First Friday to Ambler’s Farmers Market, enabling him to target his demographic more efficiently and sell out quicker.
Despite staying local, Sun worked on expanding his network and connections outside his hometown.
“Another goal of mine this summer was to find more connections within this community, and by following, direct messaging, and emailing farmers across the world and visiting facilities to learn more about specific niche industries,” Sun said.
As busy as his summer was with growing his business locally and across various parts of the world, Sun expressed that his motivation stemmed from his own interests from the past few years of high school.
“For me, it’s not about the money but the connections I make when I sell them at farmers’ markets,” Sun said. “When I first started this project, it was purely out of interest, and I like keeping it that way by constantly trying new varieties and different techniques.”
Throughout the school year and into the summer, Sun expressed that he was able to branch out of his timid shell. By being persistent in reaching out to new people and places, he replaced his timidity with confidence in his skills.
“When I started embracing more confidence in my products and myself, I found it easier to be receptive to rejection,” Sun said.
By acknowledging that taking risks is necessary and losing money is a short-term loss for long-term success, Sun expanded his business and experience this past summer.
Another GA student, Ana Miller ‘26, was able to create her summer adventure right from the comforts of the school. As a counselor at GA’s Belfry summer camp, Miller helped to construct and design the stage set for the camp’s performance of “Cinderella”.
“Designing the drawings for the pumpkin carriage, the skyline, the stones, and the clock that went in the middle was my job,” Miller said. “There was also painting, of course, because those few things usually go hand in hand. We all spent a lot of time painting, like I would leave every single day with paint all over my body.”
Because the camp performance had such a short timeline compared to most other theater productions, Miller and the other counselors had to work quickly yet methodically to construct the set in time.
“At least for me, it was very much just like, take it one step at a time and keep following it,” Miller said. “It was like, okay, I need to make rocks for the proscenium, then we’re gonna paint the background color, then we’re gonna outline all the rocks and fill it all in, and then look, it’s done.”
Additionally, because of the small scale of the production, Miller was able to have a lot of creative freedom with the design process.
“[Seth Schmitt-Hall, the Technical Director for the camp production] and I worked together over the first two days to come up with a set design for the whole thing,” Miller said. “He outlined to me what he wanted in terms of big stuff, like with the false proscenium and the skyline in the back, and then I was able to just take it and run with it.”
Some of the main elements of the set included the false proscenium, a large frame that reduces the vertical size of the stage that was painted to resemble a stone arch, a set of stairs leading to a smaller raised stage in the back, and a set of props from the original cartoon, such as the pumpkin carriage and Cinderella’s fireplace.
“The pumpkin carriage [was my favorite thing I made] because I got to put a lot of cute little things on it,” Miller said. “If not the pumpkin carriage then I’d probably say the clock. [Asher Sasson ‘23, one of the other Belfry counselors] actually made the clock function, so it literally struck midnight, which was really cool. It was so fun and felt very reminiscent of the original cartoon.”
As a rising junior, the camp production was Miller’s first opportunity to take the lead in a set design project, which gave her a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience she will carry into next year’s Belfry productions.
“I definitely learned a lot about the design process, like how we take an idea, put it on paper, and then put what’s on paper onto the stage,” Miller said. “That definitely taught me a lot, and just working through shows was a lot of very valuable experience. It was really, really fun.”