Students Depart for Holiday

Amid the flurry of students who are hurriedly packing and departing for a quick vacation away from school, a large number of undergraduates will remain on the Harvard campus over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

As in years past, many of the students who will remain on campus are freshmen from the west coast, seniors who are in the process of applying for jobs or graduate school, and international students.

While some of these students will spend Thanksgiving with family or friends who live near campus, others say they plan to celebrate the holiday with relatives or friends who will be visiting the area.

“My cousin’s studying at the Med school here, and my brother’s flying down from New York, so I’ll be having Thanksgiving with them, I guess,” said Phillip Y. Zhang ’12, a resident of Canaday Hall. “I’m from California, so going home is too much of a hassle.”

Other students say they are using the holiday as an opportunity for community service.

Nevin R. Britto ’10, who volunteers throughout the year at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter located in University Lutheran Church, will be spending Thursday morning at the shelter, helping prepare the evening’s meal and providing amenities for guests who filter into the shelter throughout the day.

“I actually started volunteering there last Thanksgiving,” Britto said. “I’m actually really excited about my shift this year because I have the opportunity to sit down with a lot of the guests throughout the day and talk to them.”

For most international students, Thanksgiving is a considerably foreign holiday.

“Many international students will go home with their friends and have dinner with them. We actually encourage that,” said Nicolas R. Papamichael ’10, president of the Woodbridge International Society. “We want them to experience that kind of American culture.”

Students who are staying on campus will not have to celebrate the holiday by themselves, Papamichael added.

The Woodbridge International Society will host a variety of social events over the four-day weekend, including a movie night, and students can experience a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Adams Dining Hall.

The dining hall, which will be decorated for the occasion, will feature a special holiday menu, complete with whole roasted turkeys, cranberry sauce, butternut squash tortellini, hot mulled cider, and a variety of fresh-baked pies.

All other University dining halls will be closed after Wednesday evening. Currier and Leverett will reopen Friday morning for breakfast and the remaining dining halls will all reopen by lunchtime on Sunday.