With Winter Break just around the corner, University of Idaho students have been making plans for how they are going to be spending their vacation.
Students have planned to spend time with their families and work to earn extra money, working their agendas around COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines.
Avery Schutte, a freshman majoring in advertising, is a member of the sorority Gamma Phi Beta. She is spending her Winter Break in her hometown, Twin Falls, Idaho.
“I really want to go ice skating in Sun Valley,” Schutte said. “I think that would be kind of fun. And then Christmas with my family, and I think that’s about it.”
Every year, Schutte’s grandparents host a Christmas Eve dinner where they eat fondue and open gifts. This year, her grandparents and uncle are worried about COVID-19 over the holidays, especially with family coming into town.
“We don’t really know if it’s going to go through, but we’re hoping that it does,” Schutte said. “I honestly am kind of looking forward to New Year’s. I’m hoping that I can find something fun to do with friends and have it still be safe at the same time and get 2020 over with.”
Beau St. John, a junior majoring in small business management, is an offensive lineman for UI’s football team. He is planning on spending his Winter Break in his hometown in Rosalia, Washington.
He said he typically spends Christmas Eve with his mom’s side of the family doing a white elephant gift exchange and spends Christmas Day with his immediate family at home.
His Christmas Eve plans have been changed because some of his family lives on the West side or in Spokane, which means some familiar faces won’t be showing up to the celebration.
“I mean, it does suck,” St. John said. “But I mean, each family made their decision whether they wanted to stay home. So that was their decision. Normally when I’m home for Christmas break, I go snowmobiling. I go with my brother and some of my friends. Besides that, I picked up a job, so I’m going to be working quite a bit.”
He’ll be working at the Spokane International for USPS, moving packages off airplanes and trucks. He works the night shift, which means he can watch the sunrise when he gets home in the morning.
Another student, Scott Hegge, who is graduating at the end of this semester with a major in horticulture, plans on staying in Moscow and working over break, unless he can convince his dad to plan a trip to Hawaii.
“I think he’d be down (to go to Hawaii),” Hegge said. “He has his own business, so he just kind of leaves whenever he wants.”
He is also having a graduation party and he’ll be spending a couple days with his family over Christmas.
While COVID-19 interrupted some traditions, Schutte, St. John and Hegge all found ways small and large to make the best of Winter Break.
Keely Burnes can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @keelyburnes.