Although inside Hopkinton High School many students are seen hard at work, outside of school, HHS students have lots of fun on the weekends with friends to relieve their school stress.

On the weekends, a small group of senior boys like to get together and play cards.

Usually with four to eight others, seniors Tim Lane and Matt Dempsey battle with their friends in a few rounds of poker.

“It’s less about the gambling aspect, but more about the psychological things behind trying to make your opponent think different things about what’s in your hand,” Lane said.

“Obviously winning is a plus, but we have fun with it,” he added.

Games typically last around two and half hours, so the boys like to turn on sports games on the TV to watch in the background.

“We love watching college football because that is what is usually playing on Friday and Saturday nights,” Lane said.

Dempsey made sure to talk some trash in preparation for this weekend’s game by saying that his favorite part about playing poker with his friends is “beating Tim Lane in every game.”

Lane and Dempsey both mentioned that after their games they like going out with the group to McDonald’s or Wendy’s to get food.

“It’s sort of a tradition to go out and get food after,” Lane said.

Dempsey talked about how this time of year is a special time because they sometimes go to Taco Bell for food instead.

During the World Series, if a player steals a base, Taco Bell gives out free tacos from 3-6:00 PM the next day.

“I like to get free tacos when Mookie Betts steals a base,” Dempsey said

These special Taco Bell runs may not always be on poker nights, but Lane, Dempsey, and their friends will still go out to get the free tacos.

Dempsey said that sometimes his group of friends will “hit the courts” after a game of poker, meaning that they will go play some basketball on the courts in front of the middle school.

Poker Night is a fun tradition for these guys and they look forward to spending time with each other every week.

A popular activity for high school girls this fall was to go apple picking.

Seniors Maggie Gaughan, Maggie Card, and Katy Holly said that there favorite thing they did this fall was apple picking at Tougas Farm.

The girls enjoy going strawberry and blueberry picking in the early summer as well.

They believe that picking fruits is a fun activity to do with friends or a great idea for a date.

“We do it so we can eat good, nutritious food,” Gaughan said.

With all the apples she picks, Gaughan likes to bob for apples with her family because her little siblings have a lot of fun doing it.

The girls enjoy getting together and baking apple pie with the extra apples and making blueberry muffins with their blueberries as well.

“And of course, we love posting pictures with our friends [on social media],” Gaughan added.

Another seasonal activity that some high schoolers like to do is go fishing.

Senior Devon Rutter goes fishing with his friends sometimes on the weekends.

He wouldn’t give away his best fishing spots, but he likes to go fishing all around Massachusetts.

Generally, he takes his kayak out on the lake and fishes with lures instead of bobbers because he believes they are more effective and will attract bigger fish.

“My favorite fish to catch are pickerel, largemouth bass, and trout,” he said.

When he goes to visit family in Michigan, he is always excited to go fishing on Lake Michigan, where he can catch salmon too.

In the winter, when the waters are frozen, he does continue to try to fish by going ice fishing. He doesn’t have the equipment to ice fish though, so he can only go if his friends can come and bring the right tools.

If ice fishing is not an option, he will head over to Wachusett Mountain to ski with his buddies.

Rutter said, “It’s nice to grab some friends and hit up Wachusett after big snowstorms on the weekends too.”

Gaughan, Card, Holly, and Rutter all agreed that the many seasons New England has allowed them to have many options for activities to do with friends on the weekends.