Earlier this year, Megan Pete, or better known as Megan Thee Stallion, caught the attention of many teenagers with her coined catchphrase, “hot girl summer.” A “hot girl summer,” in it’s dauntless essence, is a summer during which teenage girls loved ourselves, expressed ourselves, gained responsibility, work experience, confidence and just bettered ourselves over the course of the summer.

 Junior Kamaria Rousseau can agree to having a hot girl summer. 

“My whole demeanor changed,” Rousseau started. “The way I talked to people is different. I’m happier than I was before.”

She also talked about her previous insecurities and how her ‘hot girl summer’ changed her perspective. “I’m comfortable with my body now,” Rousseau explains, “I’m thinking before I speak, I’ve become more spontaneous. This summer has really changed me.”

For some students, hot girl summer meant new experiences. For junior Alana Stone, it was filled with traveling, new countries, and new languages.

When I asked about her overall summer experiences, she said, “This year, I had to learn how to let things go and focus on myself. I feel as if girls this summer specifically think a hot girl summer is just about turning up, when it’s not. I got more in-touch with myself this summer. I left the country, learned a new language, and that experience really taught me my self worth.” 

Stone went to Panama for six weeks out of the summer, being fully immersed in a Panamanian-Spanish culture with a host family, where she spoke Spanish the entire time.

“It was an amazing experience. It taught me about their culture and how it correlates with being a black girl, and helped me gain a more thorough understanding of spiritual things being immersed in that culture,” Stone said.

This hot girl summer was also one of self-discipline and responsibility for many students.  Junior Evelyn Adekunle started a job over the summer and has been working nonstop ever since. I asked her what made her want to start working. 

“Well, to start, I was tired of being broke,” Adekunle started. “Plus, it was a good way to get out of the house and actually do something. I also like getting paid.”

Like Adekunle, junior Lailah Pryor had a hot girl summer filled with work experience as well. 

“I was a city maintenance worker,” Pryor explained. “I worked for a program called The Green Team.”  She explained how it felt to work and how it would better affect her character. “It was a different experience because they had me working inside of an office. I learned about things that would be resourceful to me in adulthood if I ever wanted an office job.” 

I asked her how it felt to get her first paycheck, to which she smiled and replied, “It felt really good because I felt more ready for the future. It taught me how to manage my money, and I learned self discipline by spending my money on more important things than I have in the past. Basically, I was in my bag this summer.” 

“In my bag” is a popular term meaning “making money,” which is also exactly what I was doing as well. I started babysitting this summer and have saved up money to spend on school supplies, school shopping, and other things I needed to start my school year. I started helping around the house and eventually became more independent as I learned to money manage and time manage as well. So, as we start this school year, I plan to transfer my responsibility skills to this school year, and make this a hot girl school year. 

If you don’t retain anything from this article, remember this; self love should be valued throughout the seasons.