Weather growing colder, students growing closer
Photo Courtesy of Valentin Petkov on Unsplash
Abigail Thompson, Contributing Writer
As temperatures drop and holidays approach, students at North Greenville University find warmth in the traditions they bring from home. They create new memories with their peers as they blend old traditions with their newfound college family.
The essence of Christmas at NGU is not just about festive decorations or the crisp chill in the air. It is about how students recreate the sense of family they miss from home. For many students, bringing traditions from their own households to their college community is a way to ease the longing for familiarity and connection during the holiday season. This blending of traditions helps to transform the NGU campus into a place that feels like home.
According to a study by the American Psychological Association, maintaining traditions in new settings can significantly ease homesickness and foster a sense of belonging. For college students, these traditions can be a way to keep their ties to home while embracing their unfamiliar environment.
“Secret Santa” is one of the popular traditions among NGU students. It is a holiday game played by family and friends where each participant acquires the name of another participant to buy or make a gift for in secret. Then, the people playing the game get together and all exchange gifts.
Freshman Madi Blocker said, “I would like to bring the tradition of Secret Santa from home to my NGU dorm. It is so fun to give gifts to people and have a great night with my community.”
This sentiment echoes the importance of creating joyful experiences with the student’s college families, turning dorm rooms into spaces of laughter and generosity. Blocker not only enjoys the gifts and giving that come with this tradition.
She said, “My favorite memory is guessing which sibling picked your name out of the hat. We keep it secret until right before we open presents.”
The anticipation and mystery of Secret Santa are traits that Blocker enjoys and wants to share with her NGU family this upcoming holiday season. Bella Knuckle also emphasized how traditions bridge the gap between home and school life.
She said, “We make butter cookies with a cookie press every year. Also, stocking stuffing is one tradition I would love to do as a group. Secret Santa too! And Lucky Charms hot chocolate.”
Such traditions, simple as they may be, can create a thread of continuity for students far from their families.
Lydia Grey, a first-year student at NGU, expressed her anticipation: “One family tradition that I have loved and cannot wait to bring to NGU is my family’s yearly watching of the old 1950s movie, ‘White Christmas.’”
Sharing a beloved holiday movie with friends can transform a cold evening into a cozy, heartwarming gathering.
While the women of NGU gather for movie nights and cookie baking, the young men also carry on their traditions. Freshman Justin Bjornsen puts a playful spin on a classic family activity.
Bjornsen said, “My family makes spritz cookies every Christmas, and we put the cookies on a spoon and launch them across the room to try and catch them in our mouths.”
This fun and lively tradition will hopefully bring plenty of laughter to the male dorms this holiday season. The sense of brotherhood at NGU shines through many of the young men on campus. This brotherhood is seen in the students like Caleb Redding who is excited to share his family’s holiday traditions with his peers.
“I would like to do White Elephant with my college family because it is a tradition that means so much to me and my family back home. My heart is touched every time we play, and I cannot wait to share that joy with my Trailblazer brothers here at NGU,” Redding said.
The holiday season is about more than just traditions; it is about creating a sense of belonging and forging bonds that extend beyond blood relations. Traditions are not confined to one place—they travel with us, linking us to our past and connecting us to new communities. Family is made not just by blood, but by shared experiences and the love that binds people together.
