UCI students spend their summers in a myriad of different ways — whether it’s enrolling in summer session, keeping up with club activities or attending workshops and events. The beginning of summer doesn’t mean the end of a busy schedule.
Summer also often marks a transitional period for students. Incoming freshmen anxiously spend their last summer at home, incoming seniors enjoy their last college summer and continuing students get to tasks they didn’t have time for during the school year.
UCI’s Anteater Photography Organization (APO) is a casual photo club for students to find a community centered around their love of photography. APO member Eden Tantuco shared that, in order to keep members connected during summer break, they started a group Minecraft server.
“So year-round, we’re super active on Discord — our Discord [has] like 1,100 members — but specifically this past summer, last week, we actually started a Minecraft server that we’ve been playing on basically every single day,” Tantuco told New University. “It’s just a vanilla survival server. Basically, we’re just standard SMP [survival multiplayer] with your friends. Not many — like, no mods or anything like that.”
According to Tantuco, server members are working on a virtual, scaled-down version of Irvine within the game. The server currently has 21 members and is active daily, with APO members playing alongside each other in the sandbox game.
Outside of his involvement with APO this summer, Tantuco also discussed a personal project he started in his first year at UCI but didn’t have time for during the academic year. The project is his own buy, sell and repair business for digital cameras.
“I source parts for them, I fix them up and then I sell them again, typically to UCI students for pretty cheap,” Tantuco said.
He showed off two Sony digital cameras he managed to repair since the spring quarter ended.
“Now that I have the time in the summer to just sit down with the cameras and actually fix them, I can finally start doing it again,” Tantuco said.
Khanh La, a fourth-year public health policy major, shared that she spends less time on campus and prioritizes the habits that many students overlook during the hustle of the academic year — eating well and doing things they enjoy.
“Now that I’m home and my classes are [asynchronous], I make the time to get all my meals in and spend some time making breakfast and lunch,” La told New University. “I have the time and luxury, so I think just eating healthy and making sure I spend time doing stuff for myself with the time I have during the summer.”
As an incoming senior, La acknowledged that there was a bit of that post-college worry seeping in.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the future,” La said. “But also trying not to [think about it] too much.”
It’s a sentiment that many students share as they experience their final summer at UCI. La also shared that she wouldn’t let that worry cloud her current enjoyment of life and summer, even with online classes.
“I’m trying to enjoy the motions, rather than just going through the motions,” La said.
Outside of current students, incoming Anteaters also have a variety of summer activities to keep track of — whether it be orientation, summer programs or uprooting their life to move to new places for their education.
Shivali Chainani, an incoming first-year computer science and engineering major at UCI, shared her plans as she prepares for college. In New York City, Chainani is preparing for her move to Irvine while prioritizing time with her friends and family.
“You know, I’m not going to be able to see everyone as often, so [I’m] just kind of connecting with everybody, spending some quality time with my friends before we all part ways,” Chainani told New University.
Her summer currently consists of working on personal projects and finishing her internship before leaving for Irvine. Her flight is booked and ready for her upcoming orientation.
For Chainani, this summer isn’t just about passing the time until classes resume. It also marks the beginning of a new period in her life.
“I think, particularly for me, because I’m moving so far, it kind of is like a total fresh start,” Chainani said. “But it’s also a continuation, in the sense that I’ll still be using everything I’ve learned throughout my life here in New York.”
Cain Carbajal is a Features Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. He can be reached at cainac@uci.edu.
Edited by Alyssa Villagonzalo and Jaheem Conley.
Editor’s Note: A change to the correct amount of APO members on Discord was added.
