Thanksgiving welcomes the smell and taste of good foods—turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie—as well as time spent with family and friends. Usually, students make the journey home for Thanksgiving break, but for some, Thanksgiving will be spent on campus.
“I am planning on staying on campus to get more hours working at Hy-Vee in Sioux Center,” said junior Krystal Baker. “Andy, my boyfriend, and I are trying to save money up for an engagement ring that we have our eye on.”
Whatever the reason for staying on campus over break, those staying plan on making good use of their time.
Jason Katsma, a sophomore resident assistant in the North Suites, is on duty during the Thanksgiving Break.
“I’m going to do some homework and do some shenanigans,” Katsma said. “I’m friends with all the RAs, so we’ll find something to do.”
Senior Robi Bogdanffy will be on campus for most of break but has plans to go to a host family’s house for Thanksgiving Day. Every year he has multiple families ask him over for a meal, so he usually splits his time, going to one house for lunch and another house for supper. Bogdanffy has a unique outlook on his experience at each of the houses he visits.
“Because I’m a political science major, we learned about the division of red and blue, Republicans and Democrats,” Bogdanffy said. “I go to a family that is predominantly Republican and one that is predominantly Democrat. The contrast is astonishing. They’re all good friends of mine, and it just goes to show how beautiful diversity can be.”
Bogdanffy says that what he’s seen in spending Thanksgiving with different families has reinforced the stereotypes he’s learned about in his time here.
“The family from the conservative, Republican background has a huge family. The son, father, everyone, drove their Ford F-150s to get there,” Bogdanffy said. “The other family is usually a select few, more stylish and multicultural. It’s a mix of urban and rural culture, all in Orange City.”
Unlike Bogdanffy, junior Meg White will be having her Thanksgiving meal on campus this year.
“A friend of mine is coming from Minnesota,” White said. “We’ll be making dinner together and hanging out. We’ll probably watch a couple movies and take a walk if it’s nice.”
A resident of Steggy, White also shared about the Thanksgiving tradition the dorm is having.
“It’s Secret Turkey Week. Basically, it’s like Secret Santa,” White said. “You get the name of a girl and a list of a few of her favorite things, like her favorite color and her favorite candy. On Thursday, we’ll have an all-hall dinner in the Cafe. We’ll play some games, and usually we play Thanksgiving trivia to figure out our Secret Turkey.”
While junior Laura Tellinghuisen just plans to spend Thanksgiving with family friends this year, she has some exciting stories about previous Thanksgiving breaks spent on campus.
“My freshman year, I went to Thanksgiving dinner at one of my professor’s houses, which was nice to have a home cooked meal,” Tellinghuisen said. “Last year, my friend and I made a slip n’ slide in a hallway of Hospers. We also got to know a lot of people really well because not that many people stuck around.”
