On Nov. 21, The Wildcat Pantry hosted their annual Friendsgiving event. They set up a meal for students to come and enjoy with other students and their friends. The line stretched from the doors of The Bistro past Black Hall as students waited for their meals. The Wildcat Pantry provided roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, pumpkin pie and a pop-up pantry with canned foods, beanies, socks and scarves for students to take home. 

There were many students in attendance for dinner. “I think it’s really cool,” Colin McCann, freshman business administration and personal financial planning major, said. “I mean, I have zero dollars on my food card, so I was like, might as well take the opportunity to get a free meal. It’s really cool for people like me who do not know how to save their money.” 

This event is great for students to see their friends, meet other students and have a good meal. “I’m here with all my friends I made throughout the couple of past months,” McCann said. “It’s been a lot of fun. We’ve been chatting it up kind of like we’re a family. It was nice.” In addition to the meal that was served, CWU Sustainability was there with an interactive sustainability quiz for students to participate in while they ate. 

With the break right around the corner, many students have different plans for how they spend it. “We typically go over to my grandparents or my house and we all just get together and do karaoke, and eat ham and turkey,” McCann said. “It’s a good time.” 

Some students don’t have the luxury of choosing how to spend their break, depending on their ability to travel, their work schedule and responsibilities. “My job is dependent on me being there, so I have to stay in Ellensburg,” Bryce Jacobsen, senior business administration major, local UPS warehouse employee, said. “It’s not really an option to go home.” 

With it being the holiday season, this is their busiest time of year. “As we get into Christmas time, I’m working a lot more because we have the option to work more, as you know, people order stuff for Christmas,” Jacobsen said. 

Another Central student spends their holiday season in Ellensburg, quite a ways away from home. “I am from Korea but lived in Vietnam for almost my whole life,” Goeun Choi, a graduate law and justice major said. “Living here during the holidays feels so empty because most of the people here that I realized were students just leave when it’s time for special holidays.” 

With being away from home and their families, students find other ways to spend their holiday break. “I try [to] leave,” Choi said. “And either have fun with one of my friends that are in Seattle or maybe other friends here that are either people who live here or other international students so we could all hang out together so that I am not so lonely.”