Students Give Thanks In Their Own Unique Ways
By: Kylee Mcmanus
Staff Writer
Green River College is home to a diverse body of students who all spend their Thanksgiving holiday in various ways.
Thanksgiving is an American holiday that is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. Its origin comes from a communal feast between the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians in 1691. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.
While there is the typical tradition of gathering with family and feasting on turkey and pumpkin pie, not everyone spends their Thanksgiving in this way.
Akash Bhardwaj, a student at the college, takes the four-day weekend as an opportunity to travel to Eastern Washington with his immediate family for small vacation. Bhaget Subedi, another student, plays flag football with his friend’s religious organization in the morning, then spends the rest of the day with his family.
David Ross-Lyons, yet another student at the college, follows a different schedule for the holiday in order to make sure his whole family is included. “Every year, my family has our Thanksgiving dinner the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, because my mom works on Thanksgiving. My immediate family gets together and eats food,” Ross-Lyons said.
Not everyone follows the same Thanksgiving traditions, but this does not take away from the meaning and love the holiday is capable of when it is celebrated with loved ones of all kinds. Thanksgiving is not only a time for people to come together and share a filling meal. It is also a time to show gratitude towards what they have in their lives.
“I love Thanksgiving because it’s a reason for all my family members to fly in and be together and appreciate the people in our lives,” said Mckenna Peters, yet another tudent at the collge. While some students celebrate Thanksgiving through a more sentimental lens, others simply enjoy the break. “I enjoy Thanksgiving because there’s no school,” Bhardwaj said.
While most domestic students are able spend time with their families over the break, not all international students get to go see their families during Thanksgiving since they are so far from home. To help these students feel included, the Campus Corner Apartments holds an annul harvest festival, which is on Thursday Nov. 28 this year.
Daniel Arisa, the student leader in charge of the event, recognized that most of the students who stay on campus during the holiday are international students, and that they all have their own forms of celebrating Thanksgiving.
“The harvest festival is an event [that is] meant to give students in the Campus Corner Apartments the opportunity the celebrate Thanksgiving as the form of harvest festival,” Arisa said.
Due to Green River College’s food policies, Arisa explained that they will not be able to serve traditional Thanksgiving food, but there will be activities such as card making, plate painting, clay modeling, Chinese calligraphy, and more.
“We just want a space where the Campus Corner Apartment students can celebrate their local harvest festivals [and share] their culture with other students from other cultures,” Arisa said.
Green River College will be closed over the holiday so students and staff can celebrate with their loved ones. Evening classes are cancelled on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and there is no class on Thursday, Nov. 28, and Friday, Nov. 29.
