While the wistful days of the summer wind down and the new school year begins, arriving as well as returning Moorpark College students look back on their greatest summer adventures.

Almost synonymous with summer is music and April Bowman and Luis Carvo both made sure to take part in some of the season’s festivals.

Carvo, a 21-year-old criminal justice major starting his third year at the college, cheerfully described his experience at the “Hard Summer” festival.

“I went with my brother and a couple of his friends,” Carvo said. “It was a pretty dope time. Seeing Flosstradamus perform was the highlight of the entire event.”

Meanwhile, April Bowman, a 19-year-old English major, attended “Warped Tour” and was excited to recount the list of bands she saw play.

“It was really cool,” grinned Bowman. “I saw five or six bands I’ve been dying to see for a while. Sum 41, that was really great … We The Kings, I almost cried seeing them.”

Eighteen-year-old student Devin Galavis had a more unique outing towards the tail end of his vacation when he and his friends encountered someone special on the beach.

“The last night I had of summer I went to the beach with my friends,” said Galavis. “We walked over to a group of people who were near a bonfire and one of them happens to be an Olympic swimmer named Abbey Weitzeil, who just got back from Rio.”

Others used their school-free time to advance their hobbies, such as Jose Arias, an 18-year-old engineering major.

“I was working on modding my car,” Arias explained. “Like trying to get into that hobby. Pretty much on the physical view of the car…Because I want to turn it into like a show car. I have rims, tires, I have my windows done, exhaust coming up pretty soon.”

Arias’ interest in the project seems to have taken root. He plans on attending some car meets, events where other enthusiasts bring their modified vehicles together for exhibition, in the Los Angeles area later on this year.

Still, some student’s wild stories of the hot season weren’t quite as jovial. Frank Soriano, a 22-year-old biology major, carefully described a ride along in an ambulance with emergency medical technicians and police officers.

“It was pretty gnarly,” Soriano remembered. “I saw a lady who broke her own foot by all the weight she impacted on herself. I helped take an obese man outside of his house as he was found unconscious. Everything was happening so fast, but it taught me how to stay on my feet.”

But not everyone was able to have a wild adventure over the summer. Carlos Camargo, an 18-year-old engineering major, merely sighed in saying all he had to look back on was a routine of working at an Adidas outlet and working out.

“I’ve been working there for a year already,” Camargo quietly remarked. “[It’s] chill. That’s it.”

As students return to the classrooms and desks for a fresh year at Moorpark College, they bring with them the experiences outside to share with their friends and perhaps even their professors on campus.

Welcome back Raiders!