Spanning two and a half weeks, Spring Break was an opportunity to rest, travel, and try new things for many Andover students. Students and faculty members shared how they filled their time away from Andover and reflected on the highlights of their holiday.
Ella Kowal ’25:
For the first ten days of Spring Break my mom and I went to Japan together. It was awesome. First of all, the food was amazing. I swear I have never eaten more in my life. And then also it was really incredible, getting to see different things and meet new people. I especially liked the architecture and being able to experience the culture… Aside from getting to go on such an amazing trip, I don’t get a lot of time to talk, just one-on-one, with my mom in-person. So having that, [for] those ten days, where I could just talk and spend all that time with her was really great.
Jenny Jin ’24
I just went back home for basically the entire break, to Beijing, and spent a lot of time with my parents. And I was able to stay home and relax a lot. I also met up with some of my old friends in China, so my break was really restful… I didn’t really go anywhere in particular, I just hung around Beijing, ate a lot of food, and went to a lot of different restaurants.
Sami Tokat ’26:
The first week [of break], I went to Turkey with my mother. I’m originally from Turkey and I have a lot of family who lives there, so it was very devastating to see what happened in the Hatay region with the earthquakes. So my mother and I went and did volunteer work there, where we helped package different donations that came from Turkey and around the world, and sent them off to areas in need in Turkey. After that, I returned home and spent some time with my family.
Derek Curtis, Programming and Digital Content Producer at the OWHL:
I’m from a small town in Tennessee called Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s really close to this place, it’s my favorite place on Earth, called Chilhowee Mountain, and I go there every time I’m in my hometown, at least once, usually more like three or four times. And I go on different little trails. This time, I went off-trail at one point and was able to go down and sit in a very secluded space where no one would ever be able to see you, but there’s all this great water and the sounds of nature and all that. [It’s] very quiet. It was nice to find and came with all the usual benefits, like time away from screens, but it was…blissful being in a space like that.
David Xie ’25:
I played a lot of one-minute chess. I actually played someone who was on stream, and then afterwards, I watched the stream of her playing me. It was really funny. I also watched a lot of hockey, did some summer applications and studied for APs. And I met up with some friends, which was really nice.
Gracie Aziabor ’26:
[Over spring break], I definitely caught up on a bunch of sleep. I didn’t really realize how tired I was until I got home and I just completely knocked out. I also spent a lot of time with my family, because my brothers came back from college and my parents took some time off work as well, so we spent a lot of time together. Recently, my family and I went to New York for two days, which was really cool… We also went to the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] which was cool. I really liked it.
Ajay Mistry ’26:
Over Spring Break, I finally learned how to ski well after many years of asking my parents to take me. My friends from my hometown helped teach me. Catching up with my friends was the highlight of my break. I also got caught up on sleep and practiced for volleyball tryouts.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted over email.
Shreya Bajaj ’23:
My break was really fun and relaxing! My mom and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and I hung out with some of my friends from middle school. I got around to reading some books I’ve wanted to for a long time and watched a bunch of really good movies with my family as well.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted over email.
