#1StudentNWI: Celebrating the 4th of July with traditions and art

#1StudentNWI: Celebrating the 4th of July with traditions and art

Traditions: favorites and new ones

Beach weather is finally upon us, and New Buffalo locals are soaking it in!

Rushes of people from Chicago have been heading to beaches in Michigan City, Long Beach, and New Buffalo. On the 4th of July holiday, visitors and locals celebrated seasonal traditions with loved ones.

This Fourth of July bore a new tradition. New Buffalo has started projecting family movies at the public beach, and all are welcome. Dustin Harvey, the owner of the New Buffalo Beach Club, started the screenings as a way to encourage community and welcome people from bigger cities to get away from the chaos for a relaxing time near the beach. Harvey plans on screening movies every Tuesday before sunset for all families to enjoy.

Alice Morris, an avid movie watcher, selected one of her all-time favorite movies for the first showing: The Goonies.

Attendees are urged to kick their sandals off, get their toes in the sand, and help get this fun tradition to stick around for years to come.

Orientation fun

As La Lumiere makes its way back into the school year, many excited students met to plan Orientation Week. La Lu’s Fall semester begins in a little over a month—the new year seems to be fast approaching.

Orientation Week has long been one of the students’ favorite weeks because of all the fun school activities that take place. La Lu stresses the importance of embracing yourself and making your mark at school. The school welcomes new members of the community into the La Lu family by participating in Ice Breakers. Some are silly, some are funny, and some involve candy. For example, every year students at orientation get in small groups and toss around a beach ball. Printed on the beach ball are different questions to answer. The student answers whichever question her right thumb lands on when she catches the ball.

In the Name Game, the student says a word that starts with the same letter of her name (usually a verb) and then says her name. For instance, this writer would choose “running Ruby” and then act out running. As each person goes down the line, they must say all the previous people’s names before they can introduce themselves. It can get a little confusing, but it makes it much easier to meet new people and put names to all their beautiful faces.

Eesha Patel

Art is one of the many ways people express themselves and their creativity, and Eesha Patel can attest. She designs and sews clothes as one of her hobbies and passions, and hopes to pursue this design as a career. This past Sunday, Patel made her way to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a two-week long fashion design program.

Patel started sewing in kindergarten, and has taken classes throughout her life. In eighth grade, she became interested in fashion and started designing and sewing clothing. She ended up creating her eighth grade graduation dress. Ever since, she’s been sewing all she can. She taught herself how to make different designs and patterns. Katie Wall, La Lumiere art teacher, encouraged Patel to take Advanced Art to explore her abilities in fashion design.

La Lu student Keyvan Jalinous approached Patel some time ago to make his designs come to life. She sewed all his one-of-a kind pieces to be sold through his clothing company, kajedclothing.

As she continues on in her high school career, she intends to look into fashion design schools moving forward. Patel has been an inspiration to many, making her dreams come true by sewing her way to the top.

“Designing clothes gives me control over my creativity, and I’ve found so much happiness within that,” she said. “I know so many people who have had doubts about their dreamas, but if they keep working and striving toward their goals, nothing is impossible.”

In the photos appear some of her more eclectic designs, one expressing how cities and industry have overshadowed wildlife and nature. The other symbolizes time, illustrating how humans only have a limited amount of time in life, so they must make it worthwhile.