This article was originally written for the sixth issue in the Advent 2025 semester of The Sewanee Purple and has been reproduced digitally.
Anne Bost
Contributing Writer
Thanksgiving is most often characterized by one word: stress. Between chaotic family gatherings, heated arguments over politics, and having to cook enough food for a dozen people. The day dedicated to gratitude often becomes one spent quietly grumbling and groaning about your uncle’s latest opinion on ‘what’s wrong with America.’ Unfortunately, these semantics tend to distract people from the good parts of the cheery, albeit historically troubling holiday, so with the hopes of remedying some of that negativity, The Sewanee Purple talked to multiple students to find out what their experiences with the holiday were this year.
For many international students spending their first year on the Mountain, this was their first time celebrating Thanksgiving. Some spent the day with their host families, eating Thanksgiving delicacies like cranberry sauce, dressing, mac & cheese, turkey, and sweet potatoes. However, some international students spent their breaks in other ways. Like Luke Fairhead (C’ 28), who spent his Thanksgiving break in New Jersey and Virginia. Between enjoying the holiday with his god-parents and their family and seeing a horse race, Luke had no shortage of things to do. And although the holiday is a little foreign to him, he described it as an appreciated one, commenting that “despite culture shock being a big thing for international students coming to Sewanee and America in general, I would say Thanksgiving is certainly a welcome holiday. Something different that a lot of people from other countries do not celebrate, and it’s just a good opportunity for us to relax for a week, have some good food, [and] hopefully hang out with some cool people if we’re fortunate enough to know cool people to hang out with.”
Other students traveled home to see their family, a potentially distressing situation for those who had to fly out in light of recent flight cancellations, planes being grounded, and the sudden increase in flight accidents. One first-year student, Natalie Starkovich (C‘29), who flew to the Denver Airport, was relieved to find that the only issue with her flight was a snack shortage. When asked about her experience, she happily said that “[the] flight itself was good. Objectively, no turbulence… There were lots of delays, but I personally was not affected by that.” With the snowstorm that swept the top of the country not messing with her flight and plenty of leg room, her biggest travel problems this Thanksgiving were the traffic she encountered on the way to the airport and the disappointing lack of Biscoff cookies handed out.
However, leaving the Mountain wasn’t necessary to have a wonderful celebration. Between friendsgiving plans and a special McClurg menu, students and professors still here on the Domain had no shortage of things to do. The Tuckaway common room and some of its inhabitants even saw an explosion of delicious food before the break, despite its small dorm kitchen. With a mouth-watering menu of parmesan breaded zucchini fries, cheesy smashed potatoes, and mac & cheese with a baked crust, the pre-break buffet shared among friends made for a jolly get-together. In addition to that, the McClurg cafeteria, LUNCH, and the Sewanee Inn’s restaurant Shakerag all offered special meals as part of their Thanksgiving menus.
All in all, it’s clear that Sewanee’s students had a remarkable range of plans for Thanksgiving, and proved that the difference between having a good holiday and a bad one is what you can make of it.