Syracuse summers brought newfound love for downtown, surrounding sights
The magic of Syracuse doesn't end when classes do. In fact, many students who stayed near campus this summer found themselves gaining more love and appreciation for their college town. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer, Courtesy of Gabriela Peniston, Jack Withee
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Jack Withee realized that his junior and senior year apartment leases overlapped during July.
The solution? Make the most of the situation by spending the summer in Syracuse. He learned more about the city by trying new restaurants and taking walks at Thornden Park and Green Lakes State Park.
“Things got so busy that I found that I’ve had a hard time really getting to explore the city,” the Syracuse University senior said. “I wanted to graduate feeling like I had gotten to know where I went to school.”
From hammocking at Green Lakes to witnessing a proposal in Thornden Park during one of his regular “hot girl walks,” Withee’s summer in Syracuse allowed him to do just that.
While most students head home when classes end, some, like Withee, stay near or on campus, experiencing the magic of a Syracuse summer. Whether it was attending concerts or trying new foods, students took advantage of all the experiences the city has to offer when classes aren’t in session.
SU junior Michael Durand supplemented his time taking summer courses in Syracuse to discover local attractions and events in a somewhat unconventional way: the advertisements at Syracuse Mets games. The jumbotron and pamphlets proved to be the perfect way to learn what the city had to offer.
“This place isn’t as boring, gray, or filled with as many abandoned buildings as I thought,” Durand said.
Durand’s summer consisted of classes, trips to the Nancy Cantor Warehouse and repainting his apartment for the upcoming school year.
During his downtime, Durand drove around the city’s outskirts, discovering new Destiny Mall shops and appliance stores in the area.
This summer, many students who stayed in the area used the time to bask in rare warm Syracuse temperatures and take advantage of local parks and green spaces. Courtesy of Jack Withee
Unlike Durand or Withee, Kevin McGurn, an SU senior studying communications design, is no stranger to summertime in Syracuse. Originally from Pennsylvania, this was McGurn’s second summer on campus, working as a creative media intern for SU’s football team.
McGurn said his second summer in Syracuse felt like “a very cliché sequel to a movie where I’m getting back to my groove.”
A summer in Syracuse taught McGurn more about himself. His music taste has expanded with visits to Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards to see Justin Moore and the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview for the Outlaw Music Festival. Other, simpler highlights include trips to various ice cream shops with his girlfriend.
“I’ve been eating better and cooking my own meals, and other life habits that I’ve developed this summer living on my own,” McGurn said. “If I’m able to, I really want to continue this healthy routine of mine during the school year.”
Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographper
For some students, time spent in Syracuse this summer has even solidified future aspirations and plans.
Gabriela Peniston, an SU senior majoring in broadcast and digital journalism, spent the summer teaching high school students in the SU Pre-College program, Broadcast and Digital Journalism: TV News Storytelling.
Working with students this summer encouraged Peniston to apply to be a teaching assistant for the fall semester.
“Teaching broadcast journalism made me realize how much I love the field, because doing it is completely different than teaching it,” Peniston said. “It gave me a different perspective on why I’m here.”
Withee used his summer living in Syracuse as a trial run to decide if he could see himself living in the city full-time. He realized he wants to stay in Syracuse after graduation.
“I’m learning that the city’s right up my alley, because there are super artsy-fartsy things to do,” Withee said. “It has a lot of the things I’m looking for in my post-grad life.”
Summer in Syracuse provides students with the opportunity to gain experience and grow professionally through jobs, internships and summer classes. Courtesy of Gabriela Peniston
Withee worked as a cashier at Varsity Pizza, where he considered himself an “off-the-clock tour guide” to customers visiting SU. These conversations made him realize just how much he’d fallen in love with the school, he said, and how far he’d come since arriving on campus.
Attractions like Syracuse’s annual Mac-N-Cheese Fest, a local escape room, a karaoke bar and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que grabbed the attention of Peniston and her fellow TA’s.
Withee found his own excursions in the city on the Instagram accounts @afterdarkpresents and @wandercuse, such as a drag show and the Westcott Art Trail, one of his favorite activities this summer.
“Being in Syracuse this summer showed me that there is so much more to the city than what I saw during the academic year,” Peniston said. “I will take advantage of the fact that I’m living in Syracuse, and that I’m not just living at Syracuse University.”
No matter how or where they spent their days, SU students who stayed in Syracuse this summer said they learned lessons they want to take with them into the next school year while finding a new appreciation for their college town.
After all, as Varsity Pizza customers told Withee, “If you’re bored in Syracuse over the summer, you’re just boring.”
