A Wonderful Winter Break: Check Out What Students Were Up To!

“I was a penguin. I went to Mammoth and brought my penguin costume because I thought it would be fun, and I put it on the Snapchat Winter vs Summer story and got over 3,000,000 views," said junior Nadia Haghani. 

“I hung out with friends. One time my friend and I met up, and we ended up going to a bunch of grocery stores at nine or 10 at night in pajamas and we brought her neighbor’s pet porcupine and it was really fun," said junior Alyssa Geffen.

“I went to Disneyland during the break and it was the best part of it, I loved the lights at night and of course all the other attractions from the park," said junior Delia Guizar.

"For my Mom’s birthday we went out for a morning hike to the San Elijo lagoon and walked the trail with my dog. It was really pretty and we saw some cool birds and ran into like fifty other dogs," said junior Lily Callender.

"My friends and I were near Big Bear and I was so cold in the snow outside. We spent one afternoon keeping warm and making pies. I had never made a pie before so I was pretty happy when it turned out well!" said junior Carolyn Knapp.

“Part of my family went to Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona over break and appreciated the beauty and wilderness of [the areas.] We also checked out [Northern Arizona University] which was really fun," said junior Riley Switzler.

"I wrote a lot of essays for college and got my wisdom teeth removed. It was fun," said senior Boone Mayer. 

I went to Arizona with my family right over Christmas and we hiked and hung out and it was really relaxing and fun," said senior Chaitanya Herbert.

"Over winter break, I did a highway 101 cross-California roadtrip. We went to LA, Malibu, San Luis Obispo, Big Sur, Monterey, San Francisco, San Jose. It was really fun and we got to see a lot of cool places," said senior Yasamine Durali. 

“We went down to San Ignacio to go whale watching. We rented kayaks and went out to an island and camped on the beach. We also rode mules to go see Native American cave paintings that were done about 5000 years ago,” said senior Katie Clark.  

Senior Griffin Aubol took photos in Laguna Beach during his winter break.

"My sister and I had this brilliant idea for a present.  We decided to get Heifer international shares…We got everyone [in my family] a share of a sheep and we had this idea…I had a stuffed sheep in my room, but I didn’t really care about it. So one day we dismembered the thing and we spent like four hours sewing up all the holes so that all the stuffing didn’t pour out and then we put...

“I had the privilege to perform with some of my really good friends in Shawlin Supreme and the Kick Back Boys, an awesome band here at SDA, on the DSC Show on 100.7 KFM-BFM. It was a wonderful experience, and performing like that, it is what I want to do for the rest of my life," said junior Lizzie Waters. 

“I got to go to universal studios and see the new Harry Potter World and Walking Dead attraction, but also had my yearly tradition of burning my Christmas tree," said Senior Matthew Zounes. 

“I went to San Francisco over the break. I biked the Golden Gate Park and it was exhilarating, San Francisco is great," said junior Ciro Valdez.

"My family and I (including our dog) went to New Mexico over break, and on Christmas Day we went and saw an indigenous tribe perform a sacred dance. It was an amazing cultural experience!" said senior Maia Nelson.

"My family rented a beach house in Florida and my cousin and I tried riding a 2-person bike," said Senior Shayne Busick.

"[My friends and I] made cookies all together as a big group, and we made them into gingerbread shapes. Then we picked a random person to make, and then guessed who it was afterwards," said sophomore Cami King.

"I went to Florida and hung out with friends from Cuba, my family, and [then] went to the beach," said junior Sofia Exposito

"I went to Thousand Steps Beach over break with some friends. It was a good time," said Senior Noah Hauptman

"I went to Belize for two weeks. I spent one week in Cayo and another week in Ambergris Cay. We did a lot of horseback riding, some cliff jumping, snorkeling, swimming, hiking, cave exploring and we visited a Mayan temple in San Miguel, Guatemala. 

"Over the break, I was reunited with my former SDA volleyball teammates who went off to college, Megan [Scherer] and Emily [Kimball]!"

"The highlight of my break was going to Mexico! I went with my friend and we went ziplining, climbing on suspension bridges, and shooting (bee bee guns). We also watched rogue 1 in English and went to fish spa!" said senior Gabi Gjata.