The Mustang asked students and staff around SDA to share their most memorable and favorite experiences from the winter break. Responses were varied. Students found experiences from traveling around the country to simply enjoying extra hours of sleep to be particularly outstanding.
“I’d say when I went back to the east coast to visit my relatives for Christmas. We went to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York City. But my favorite moment was when it started to snow Christmas Eve night. It was beautiful.” – Senior Kerri Dobson
“I went scuba diving in Jamaica! It was really fun and interesting. Then I attempted to understand Jamacian pay per view game shows. It was confusing.” – Junior Calvin Borchers
“I went to San Fransisco to see my uncle’s art exhibit. Except it was closed and the janitor didn’t believe that my uncle was the artist, so he called security on us and we had to leave.” – Junior Elise Titcomb
“My favorite moment would have to be going to see the opening of “Les Mis” on Christmas Day!” – Senior Charlotte Lorey
“I went ice skating and my cousin who is a hockey player dragged me really fast around the rink and I was screaming, ‘We’re gonna die!’” – Freshman Bianca Stone
“I got to snuggle with my baby in the morning! I taught her how to snuggle this break. It was really cute.” – history teacher Kerry Koda
“I spent the break watching a 90’s street racing anime…then proceeded to watch it all over again. No shame.” – Junior Katrina Olsen
“I went to Arizona and saw snow in someone’s front yard for the first time—real, non-melting snow that wasn’t on a mountain.” – Senior Jenni Ehlers
“I hiked to the top of Iron Mountain [in Poway].” – math teacher Bryan Anderson
“I got my first car!” – Senior Leena Gonzales
“A cop pulled me over claiming my license plate light wasn’t working, even though it was. He checked my license and then let me go.” – Senior Clayton Bishop
“I did a bake sale over the break. My sister was dancing on the curb to get people to come by.” – Freshman Alex Weingarten
“I got a giant red cow’s head [for Christmas]. It’s a wall mount quilt, [and] I hung it on my wall.” – Junior Alia Newman-Boulé
“I worked on an electric banjo design over break, so that might be going into production. Then I visited my family in Chicago.” – Junior Elis Turner
“I went on the stratosphere rides in Vegas; one was a drop a thousand feet above the strip. It was really scary.” – Senior Cheyenne Bartram
“I slept for sixteen hours straight in my house, it was great.” – Senior Kira Scott
“I went to Newport Beach because my friend had a house up there, it was life changing.” – Junior Maggie Foster
“I went biking at Torrey Pines and as I got to my final destination my tire popped and I had to spend two hours trying to get someone to answer their phone and come pick me up.” – Senior Solana Michael
“I got yelled at by a customer at Target because we apparently we didn’t have interesting enough wrapping paper.” – Senior Charlotte Lorey
“I went to the dentist twice.” – Freshman Jenna Greene
“I went to San Francisco and saw an herbal medicine store and a restaurant that had infinite fortune cookies. We had dinner at The Blue Mermaid Chowder House. They have godly corn chowder with crab in it.” – Sophomore Eric Hendricks
“I waited for the end of the world at a party with my friends. Even though it never came, we still had fun.” – Junior Cameron Wagner
“I went and had a movie marathon day at Edwards.” – Senior Savannah Bengs
“I went to Knott’s Berry Farm and I had the time of my life. I have the pictures to prove it.” – Senior Kayla McEldowney
“On New Year’s Eve, my family and I lit fireworks. One hit my mom and she started wigging out.” – Senior Bram Linkowski
“When Megan Kalwick and I climbed to the top of my roof to shoot a music video, the sun was just going down over the ocean. Seeing things that beautiful is always a reminder of how lucky we are to live in this amazing place.” – Senior Taylor Sills
“I invaded [my friend] Lauren’s house and stayed there for two nights.” – Junior Manon Wogahn
“My most memorable moment of winter break was going to a family get-together and having to give piggy back rides to my niece and nephew.” – Senior Christopher Phan
“We went to the mountains and saw snow, and we had a snowball fight and hiked up the mountains. It was really fun.” – Freshman Sarah Wolv
“I got to shoot my dad in a paintball game so that was pretty cool.” – Junior Josh Proal
“I was attacked by my stocking. When I went to take it down Christmas morning, the stand fell and hit me on the head. I had a massive bruise for the rest of break.” – Junior Katie McPherson
“The epic end of the world party at the beach! Over 1000 people RSVP’d on Facebook. Only ten people showed up. I am being slightly sarcastic on the “favorite” part? Is that ok? I was really excited until I showed up…” – Senior Weston Braun
“I went to Big Bear to go snowboarding for the first time. We left five hours later with bruised tailbones.” – Junior Sierra Zounes
“The best part of break was sleeping in.” – Junior Cooper Hoffman
“I went and had a movie marathon day at Edwards.” – Senior Savannah Bengs
“I drove up to Oregon to visit my aunt. She cried when she saw us because she was so excited.” – Sophomore Jared Holguin
“…I feel like I did something.” – Senior Katie Ehlers