For most college students, Thanksgiving break is a time to reconnect, make new memories, and spend quality time with family before returning to campus in late November. As campus life comes to a close during the week of buffet-style feeding, students pack their beloved sweaters, cozy knits, and fluffy fleece sweaters to prepare for the exciting journey ahead. Going home for the holidays is an annual ritual filled with warm feelings, and sweet potato pie, too.
But what about the students left on campus? What about the students who can’t afford a plane ticket to travel home? What about the students whose family ties were severed by situations and events that most living in America will never experience? What about the generation trauma that makes returning home a greeting to old selves, ones who found freedom through campus housing? What about the students whose home simply doesn’t exist?
To the students who reside on campus for the upcoming Thanksgiving break, I am here for you. I stand with your pursuits of freedom through education, dedicated to breaking generational barriers that would make your eldest ancestors proud. The halls may be empty, but you are never alone. I am rooting for you to one day be able to fly anywhere you want to, freeing yourself from the financial restrictions of leisure travel. To the students whose friends have become their substitute for a family, I wish you happiness for substituting the love that should have been unconditional since birth. To the students who simply reside on-campus for breaks just because, I applaud you simply for being you.
You are never alone this Thanksgiving break.