Holidays are generally considered a time best spent with our loved ones. Some students at CUW live close enough to campus that it’s not too difficult to see family during a holiday, but not everyone here has that proximity advantage. With Thanksgiving right around the corner and Christmas not long after, The Beacon spoke with a few Concordia students who live far from campus about what they do to celebrate the holiday season.
Paige Taylor, a second-year education major, is from Indiana, which is about a 7-hour drive from campus. When asked if she is able to visit family during Thanksgiving, she said,
“Yes, I usually go home… but it’s a long drive.”
Someone a bit farther from Wisconsin, Magdalena Oberstat is a senior Classical Lutheran Education major from Manheim, Texas. We wondered if she goes home for holidays or spends time at a friend’s house since she lives 20 hours away. She said: “For holidays like Christmas, I always go home, but for Thanksgiving, Easter, and other holidays, I have spent them in the past with the lovely Hahn family [family of Luke Hahn, a recent alum of Concordia, who now works in maintenance at CUW] or with my best friend in the South Bend area.”
A student who has an even longer commute, Cheree Peters, a senior interior design major, is from Alberta, Canada. She reports that she spends Christmas and summer holidays with her family at home. She continues: “I usually spend the holidays I’m here with the (hockey) team, going on trips or going to friends’ houses… it is good but weird seeing others’ traditions. It is also hard seeing people celebrate with their family when mine is so far away.”
As students at Concordia, we should be aware that spending holidays with family is a privilege, a privilege not everyone gets to have. So as Thanksgiving comes around the corner, ask your friends how they plan on spending their holiday and don’t be afraid to offer them a place and a family to spend it with.
—Joshua Bowen is a student writer for The Beacon, the official student newspaper of Concordia University Wisconsin.