Following Spring Lake’s Spring, which went from April 4-13, the Laker Anchor asked Lakers all about their experiences.
First we had many Lakers admit that they had a “staycation” this year. Many students said they were just happy to spend time at home without any stress of school weighing them down.
Senior Samantha Eliopulos said, “I was able to work more hours during the break and see more of my family, which I usually don’t get a chance to spend time with during the school year.”
Many other students said they got to travel throughout Michigan and either go visit family in other areas or try things they wouldn’t normally do here in Spring Lake, such as one student sharing their experience of steelhead fishing in Manistee.
When you think of Spring Break, you tend to think of hot tropical getaways, but multiple Lakers took another route with some telling us they went to big cities, such as Chicago or New York City.
As for those usual warm escapes, a significant number of students visited coastal states such as Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama.
Cole Slagle, who went on a camping road trip with his friends across Appalachia, said it was a mixed bag adventure.
“It taught me that I should definitely put more effort into my planning,” he said.
Camping off-grid in North Carolina brought some fear of the unknown. Pulling up the Apple Maps pin of the site, it was all empty greenspace and mountains.
“It was a very scary experience, but once we survived it was very liberating,” Slagle said.
Another perspective for spring break was heading west. Junior Hannah Davis spent her break visiting the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Las Vegas. The Grand Canyon exceeds its reputation, she explained.
“All the pictures, it was 10 times that,” she said. “It was crazy huge.”
Davis’s family hiked about a mile into the canyon, she added, while at Zion National Park, they went biking. The Western United States offered some of those bucket-list sights, Davis explained.
“It was like the trip you do once in your life,” she said.
Finally, we had many Students travel internationally. Three separate students traveled to France, and three separate students traveled to Costa Rica. We also had multiple people share about varying types of cruises they went on.
Senior Hale Philips shared his experience about going to Chile with his family. He shared that they hiked about 50 miles in southern Chile over the course of the week. He specifically enjoyed the nature they were able to see in the area.
Out of the 32% of survey respondents who are seniors, 10% of them went on the unofficial “Senior Spring Break” trip to Punta Cana.
Senio, Kate Witherall, who attended the trip, said, “Senior Spring Break was so fun. It was definitely one of my favorite trips I’ve been on! It’s a trip I’ll never forget.”
What’s a better way to spend a vacation than with those you love? The survey stated that 80% of students said that they spent the week with their families, and 51% of respondents said they spent the week with their friends.
