What to do over winter break?
Students and staff are planning their great escapes over winter break. For some, it involves elaborate travel, for others, it’s just about snuggling up with a good non-fiction book.
December 12, 2018
Students have a variety of ideas for how they plan to spend their winter break. Some will travel to different states or countries, while others will be having a more relaxed break at home. Still others have different plans in mind.
Many will have homework to begrudgingly work on over the break. Seniors and IB students especially may not have as much a chance to relax as others. Upcoming college application deadlines or IB homework will put some pressure on students.
Senior Liliana Sanders is a full IB student and has plenty of work to do over the break.
“My winter break will involve lots of sleep, homework, and likely caffeine,” Sanders said. “I have two major papers coming up for IB senior seminar, so most of my time will go into doing those papers and pretending they don’t exist the rest of the time.”
Chemistry teacher Kelsey Wahl is looking forward to a laid-back winter break, spending time with her friends and family, along with some other activities.
“I will be playing tennis, running in the cold weather, reading books for leisure if I have time, and maybe doing some knitting or crocheting,” Wahl said.
One book Wahl is particularly looking forward to is Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story, as she mainly enjoys reading non-fiction when she has the chance. Wahl is also also aiming to finish her classes for graduate credit that she’s being enrolled in over the winter break.
Senior Ellen Hajduk will be staying fit and making money over the break.
“I’ll be working and just enjoying the time off from school. I’ll also be doing daily doubles for swimming and I’m going to Washington to visit family over Christmas,” Hajduk said.
Sophomore Leah Rumford will be traveling the world and enjoying time with her family.
“I’m going to England for the entirety to visit family for Christmas. For the most part more exciting than most of them in the past,” Rumford said.
Freshman Victoria Simonetti will be leaving school early for a lifetime trip in South America.
“I’m leaving the 12th of December and I’m going to visit my family in Brazil, and I’m staying there for thirty days,” Simonetti said. “I’m excited. It’s going to be summer there, and I’m going to see my family.”
IB senior English teacher Kristi Latimer is also looking forward to spending time with her family.
“I plan to spend as much time as possible playing with my kids and eating good food,” Latimer said. “My mom is coming to visit and she’s from Arizona. My son was introduced to snowboarding last year, but we don’t go up to the mountain very often and we have a surprise trip up to Mount Hood planned.”
We decided to make a list of our own ideas for winter break. Some students will laugh, some will cry, and some will suffer an identity crisis. Regardless of how winter break makes you feel, here are the top 20 things you can do this winter break to come back to school feeling refreshed and relaxed:
- Drink a Sprite Cranberry. It doesn’t really taste that much like cranberry but it’s alright.
- Tell your mom how much you love and appreciate her.
- Build a snowman. Build it in Minecraft if there is no real snow.
- Put off all the work that has been assigned to you over break, because seriously, who does that?
- Read about the War of 1812.
- Think about how the earthquake could happen at any time. Spend time with your family now, while you still can. You could die tomorrow.
- Drink 52 peppermint mochas.
- Read War and Peace, then Crime and Punishment.
- Challenge yourself not to leave the couch for a day. Eat lots of chocolate and peanut butter. Bring a bowl and napkins with you in case you have to, well…go.
- Fall in love.
- Eat all 16 flavors of DQ Blizzards in one day, all size large.
- Feed your dog or cat food from the dining room table, so you become best friends with your pet.
- Make a sacrifice to the snow gods.
- Make goals for the new year and immediately fail on them.
- Write a 2,000 page novel and publish it.
- Pretend you know what you’re doing with your life.
- Wish staff and teachers a happy winter break. Suck up any hatred you have for how much homework they give you.
- Check out 27 books from the library and never return them. Let your parents pay the fines, or just ignore them.
- Eat some multicolored snow.
- Email THS Publications head writers and tell them how much you hate this list. Even though you secretly need it. Sue us for a million dollars.
