2020 was a rough year, but after the first semester of the school year, a long winter break to celebrate the holidays was a good way for students, faculty and staff members to take a load off. Winter break lasted from Dec. 18 to Jan. 6. However, in Nov. 2020, coronavirus cases began to rise drastically. This made winter break not as merry as it usually is because some plans that families and friends had got cancelled.

“I got to spend time with more of my family after I didn’t get to during Thanksgiving break, so I enjoyed my break,” senior Dakota Beck said. “There were some plans during the break to spend time with my grandpa, but we were unable to because he was undergoing kidney surgery, and we also didn’t want to risk catching the virus and spreading it to him since there was an increase in cases in our county.”

However, some families were able to travel and go through with their plans to celebrate the holidays. With the vaccine for the coronavirus beginning its distribution, people hope to be able to go through with plans much easier in the future.

“For my break, I went up El Dorado and celebrated Christmas with Josh Bidwell’s family,” senior Brynn Andra said. “I hope that the vaccine gets distributed to us soon so that attending school isn’t that much of a problem.”

Once winter break ended, students, faculty and staff members returned to school Jan. 7. While the pandemic is still a big concern, administration is doing everything they can so that the school is able to go through with the second semester as planned. 

“For my break, I spent time with my grandfather, ate good food, and partied a lot,” junior Hunter Doss said. “I am looking forward to the second semester, especially the Lip Sync if we have one because I’m interested in participating in it.”