Winter looks different for many students, people in the community, faculty members and their families. Everyone has their own special, unique traditions for winter break whether it’s celebrating a holiday, spending  time with family, or savoring the two weeks off of school with not much care for anything. Even though there are still many stressful parts of winter such as the end of the semester, grades, finals, family and sometimes even the holidays with all of the preparation.

   Although winter can be a stressful time, there are still many opportunities and entertaining activities to look forward to. Baking, spending time with family, holiday celebrations, and classic holiday activities such as ice skating or watching classic Christmas movies are all great ways to spend time during the winter. 

Sophia Rice, a junior at Grayslake Central said “We do Christmas baking, baking cookies. And things I like to do in the winter are Christmas lights, decorating trees, and visiting my family”.  It’s the small things in the winter season that bring happiness and the biggest smiles to Central students and staff. 

  These little things are also a huge hit with most of your friends or families. “I like going to the ice-skating rink down-town,” said junior Britta Lynch. 

   Winter break gives students a time to enjoy with their friends and not have an overwhelming amount of work. To alleviate the end-of-semester stress,  Grayslake Central itself does little things to help make the end of the semester a little more enjoyable and try to relieve the constant stress and pressure put on students. The Rambassadors handed out free hot chocolate, hot cider, and tea on Wednesday, Dec. 6 to students as they entered the building by the bus doors . The winter art show was also a way to warm up and relax at the end of the semester. 

   Then, there was Grayslake Central’s December countdown to winter break with small cute ways to dress up on the way to our winter break. This was a way to get ready for break as the final day of the semester got closer. “We’re just trying to do these morning welcomes, since it’s getting colder out, it’s like here’s something to warm you up,” said Dianna Repp, Central’s Student Life Coordinator. 

Repp helps with most of the events around Grayslake Central High School; she helps schedule and create some of the events. These little gestures and acts of kindness can always help start your morning off to a good start especially with many people’s schedules constantly buzzing with sports, jobs, family, and clubs.

   Some students and staff on the other hand don’t celebrate any holidays over winter break, so they use it as a time to catch up on work, sleep or as a time to see friends and family they might not see often.  

   Winter looks different for many students, people within the community, faculty members and their families. So, in the end everyone’s winter and winter break looks different because of everyone’s own traditions.