Xpress, the Coolest Section of the St. Petersburg Times, is the home for features, news and views of interest to young readers. Most of the work in Xpress, which appears on Mondays in Floridian, is produced by the Times' X-Team. The team of journalists ages 9-17 from around the Tampa Bay area is selected every year at the end of the school year to serve during the following school term. The current team of 12 was chosen out of 150 applicants. Watch for X-Team application forms in Xpress during the month of May.
Read the reviews by Xpress Film Critic Billy Norris
Your summer 'To Do' list
For their last assignment, our 2002-03 X-Teamers offer cool tips for things to do this summer.
By Times X-Team
Published May 19, 2003
Play tennis at the rec center with your friends.
Grow organic vegetables - avoid chemicals and high prices at health food stores.
Learn to skimboard.
Paint your walls. Move all the furniture out and put a tarp on the floor. Paint one wall a solid, bright color. Splatter paint like Jackson Pollock. Paint a mural - a relaxing ocean scene that you can look at to chill out when you need to relax.
Camp! You can find one for almost everything.
Go to the theme parks (Florida residents sometimes get discounts).
Work or volunteer at a place that interests you, like a recreation center, a nursing home or an animal shelter.
Catch up on reading those really fun and interesting books (just find one that's related to something that interests you).
Be a photographer for the summer and take pictures of the most normal things in a unique/original way.
Be lazy, sit around, catch up on sleep and watch your favorite shows.
Try a new sport, such as golf, volleyball or tennis. Many places offer instructional camps for these sports. Sure, soccer, basketball, and cheerleading are great sports, but try something different, not something everyone else is playing!
Go to the mall. Tons of stores. Air conditioning. Best summertime place, besides the beach or Disney World.
Make money. Get a little job like babysitting a kid for a few hours a day, or cleaning the pool for your parents. With the money you earn, you can do more fun things over the summer.
Go to the beach. We live in a state that is known all over the country for its beaches, and often Floridians rarely go. It's even better when you bring lunch and some friends. Don't forget the sunblock, though, because sunburn can turn a great time into a painful time.
Go outside and Rollerblade, ride your bike, play catch, or just be active!!
Make paintings or drawings and take them to people at a nursing home who don't get many visitors.
Take a vacation. This is summertime, a time to get away from it all and explore the world beyond the television. Try planning a trip with your family to a place you've never been.
Check out summer camps.
Max out dad's credit card at the mall.
See all the summer flicks.
Sleep till noon every day.
Put stickers on your body at the beach and soak up some rays: you'll have the shapes of the stickers left on your arms and legs.
Have a crazy hairdo day: get wild with beeswax and gel.
Spend an afternoon at the little beach shops around the bay area. Start your own flower bed in a corner of the back yard.
Visit museums.
Take a ride on a Jet Ski.
Take up a new hobby (like cooking or playing a new sport).
Try out all of the restaurants that you have wanted to eat at but never had the chance.
Go to sailing camp at one of the sailing centers or yacht clubs in the area.
Paint your parents' house.
If you've got nothing else to do, play video games until your thumbs go numb.
Walk around the neighborhood with your family and bring your basketball, so you can shoot all the neighbors' hoops.
Spend time with your grandparents. It may not seem so interesting right now, but you can learn a lot from older people, and maybe they can help you learn about a few things you thought you already knew.
Get together with your friends for extended periods of time. For three days, plan a lot of things to do (like going to the movies, going to the beach, going to Adventure Island or Busch Gardens, going to the park, having a pool party, going to the mall) and even spend the night together every night. It's really fun with lots of people and it's almost like being at some kind of really fun summer camp.
- Times X-Team members Cathy McCarthy, Amita Shah, Dana Orlando, Jocelyn Howard, Theresa Linnert, Kwynn Kirkhuff, Lindsey Brooks, Jacob Ludin, Reva Luth-Powell, Jacky Johnson, Nathaniel DiMura, Kendra John and Jessica DaFonte contributed to this report.
