During M-A’s nearly three-week winter break, students spent their free time in a variety of ways. While many relaxed at home, others embarked on eventful trips, caught up with friends, or spent time with family.
Freshman Rylan Hayes, who is on M-A’s varsity basketball team, enjoyed playing over break and hanging out with friends. “We played against Menlo, and we won, and I went for East Bay. So, yeah, it was really nice,” he said.
Despite freedom from early morning alarms, Hayes chose to avoid going to bed late at night. “I don’t really stay up later, like 10 o’clock and I go to bed,” Hayes said.
Senior Zoe Ortega enjoyed a wide variety of activities with family and friends, as well as some solo adventures. “Mostly a lot of sleep, a lot of watching shows, and then I locked in with the gym,” she said. “I just go [to the gym] during my free time and for my own goals.”
She also visited both San Francisco and Oakland. “It was sometimes for fun, but also because of the holidays, like New Year’s and Christmas,” she said.
Sophomore Mitchell Barrows had a break filled with excitement and adventure in Hawaii. “We basically spent days up there exploring the entire area, going into craters and lava, and seeing the beautiful wildlife,” he said.
“Early on [in break], I was on the main island, climbing the volcano,” he said. “But after a couple of days, I went back to Honolulu.”
Barrows traveled to many different parts of Hawaii, but highlighted climbing the Kīlauea volcano as his favorite part of the break. “Unfortunately, it exploded right after we left, so we didn’t actually get to see it erupting,” he said.
Junior Kaiis Thomas spent the majority of his break hanging out with family and friends, but also spent time relaxing at home. “I was hanging out with my family, mostly, and like, two other friends,” he said. Thomas spent lots of time with his cousin at the gym.
During the break, he took the opportunity to catch up on sleep. “I slept in a lot, like, until 12 most days,” he said. In addition to waking up later, Thomas also fell asleep late, at around 1 a.m. almost every night.
Freshman Kimberly Vargas spent her break mostly at home sleeping in, spending time with family and friends, and playing Roblox.
She also mentioned that her sleep schedule got messed up during the break. “I used to sleep really early [but] now I sleep very late,” she said.
Now that she’s back in school, her sleep schedule is taking a toll. “[I feel] very exhausted, I think it’s really stressful,” Vargas said.
“Probably going to Hawaii [was the highlight],” junior Josh Bertozzi said. Bertozzi spent the first half of his break with his family in Hawaii, and spent the second part of his break at home.
While he was at home, he got the chance to see some friends. “I was hanging out with my friend for his birthday,” he said. Although he did get some time with friends, it was limited because Bertozzi fell ill.
