School's out throughout the region, and we're getting ready to take our readers to the beach for our annual summer series.  

We'll tell you below how you can help. As you read the next few paragraphs about what we've been up to this spring, and some of the stories we're working on now, start thinking about your favorite beach destination, within driving distance, and what makes it special.

We're ready for summer fun, having just completed our coverage of 16 of the area's high school graduations, along with profiles of talented seniors from each high school.

Coordinated by Night City Editor Jacinta Meyers over the course of several months, our graduation coverage involved almost everybody in the newsroom and included stories, photos, videos, graduation lists and highlights of commencement speeches. We're grateful to our contacts at each school who helped us select students to profile and provided graduation lists and speaker information.

We also covered area college graduations, including the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Mitchell College, Connecticut College and Three Rivers Community College.

The graduation stories are uplifting and delightfully noncontroversial, but other topics we're following — among them: inflation, abortion rights, gun rights, housing and food insecurity, mental illness, racism, residual pandemic worries and upcoming elections — are heavier.

That's why we've decided to keep it light for this year's summer series, which we'll publish in early August. We've decided to ask readers to name their favorite beaches — lakes, ponds and rivers included — within an hour's driving distance of New London.

We'd like to focus on public beaches, so that everybody who reads our stories has an opportunity to test these local waters.

Your assignment is simple, and we're hoping it also will be easy, and fun, for our hard-working staff.

Tell us in the comment section, or send me an email with "Summer Beach Series" in the subject line, which beaches you would like us to feature, and why you love them.

Where in our region do you have to go at least once every summer to put your toes in the sand, take a swim, cast a fishing line or watch the sunrise/sunset or have a cold drink?

We'll consider exceptions to the public beach requirement if your favorite beach is private, or accessible only by boat, and if you have a great story to tell and are willing to arrange access for a reporter or photographer.

We'll also consider publishing some of your beach photos and stories later this summer, but first things first. Tell us where you'd like us to go.

This is the opinion of Karen Florin, The Day's engagement editor. Reach her at k.florin@theday.com or (860) 701-4217.