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Winter Break Activities

By: Viviana Lopez

Happy holidays, everyone! This season is definitely a magical one. Whether you’re lighting a menorah for Hanukkah, hanging ornaments on your Christmas tree, or spending time with your friends and family, here are some recommendations on how to celebrate this lovely season. 

Five Activities to do 

☃️ Carve out an evening to fully relax. Make a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows, grab a blanket, and watch some of your favorite cozy movies 

☃️ Go ice skating!! I would recommend going to an indoor skating rink, as temperatures will be more controlled and the ice more smooth. Go with friends or family so you have someone to fall down with

☃️ Decorate, decorate, decorate! I love Christmas decorations!! They don’t even need to be fancy, the smallest ones are often the most charming 

☃️Christmas is a season where everyone sees things through eyes of wonder like a child so why not watch your favorite childhood movies? 

☃️ Go on winter walks. I know it’s super cold, but winter sunsets are hauntingly beautiful and returning to a warm house afterwards is one of the best feelings 

Five Movies to Watch 

🎄Home Alone 

🎄Klaus

🎄Rise of the Guardians 

🎄How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

🎄Mickey’s Christmas Carol 

Five Songs to Listen to 

❄️Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Phoebe Bridgers 

❄️Christmas Dreaming by Laufey 

❄️1950 by King Princess 

❄️I’ll be Home for Christmas by Frank Sinatra 

❄️Moi c’est by Camélia Jordana 

Have a wonderful winter break and happy holidays!! 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

By: Karis Kim

The semester has ended, which means winter break is here! Many are excited to see family or hang out with friends, but for others it may be a time of wallowing in boredom, not knowing how to spend all of this free time other than watching TV. Don’t get me wrong I really do enjoy movies, especially doing movie marathons with Harry Potter, The Godfather, and Star Wars series, however we have three weeks on our hands.

With that being said, you should go visit places you have always wanted to go. Whether it be that shop you always walk past that catches your eye, but you never actually go into, or that restaurant that continues to pop up on your feed that you have been dying to try. You can take yourself on a date or go with friends in order to relax after your hard work this semester. You can also take yourself to a cafe, the park, to a museum, and so many other fun places. You may even consider acquiring a new skill you have always wanted to try, but have never had the time to take part in. I recommend cooking or baking as they can be therapeutic and not to mention delicious.

If you want to keep your mind running this break, you can indulge in a good book or complete a puzzle. It never hurts and you may enjoy it now that you are not being forced to do it for a grade. While not everyone is gonna like this one, you could (and maybe should) clean. During the semester you may have been busy and over time became acclimated to a messy space. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but cleaning that filth may lift a weight off of your shoulder and allow you to start fresh for the New Year. Lastly, don’t forget to try the beautiful art of ice skating at one of the ice rinks in town or take a stroll at night for local light shows with a cup of hot cocoa to keep you warm!

After all this and you would still like to stick to watching TV here is a list of my holiday movie marathon recommendations:

• The Family Stone
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Gremlin
• Mickey's Once Upon A Time
• Ghost of Girlfriends Past
• Stepmom
• Serendipity
• Die hard
• Dash & Lily
• Something from Tiffany’s
• Rush Hour

In the United States, there are three commonly celebrated holidays in December: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. While many of us celebrate one or more of these holidays, not all of us know the history behind them. Take a look below for a brief history lesson on these commonly celebrated holidays. 

Christmas

By: Kiana Gowdy

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus on December 25th. While Christmas is a Christian holiday, many Christmas traditions are thought to come from ancient pagan festivals and events. For instance, decorating a Christmas tree, kissing under mistletoe, ringing bells, caroling and even exchanging gifts are all things the Pagans did in their festivals. The Pagans participated in these activities far before Christmas in order to celebrate the winter solstice. The winter solstice was celebrated over the course of about a week with the festival of Saturnalia. It is believed that Christians, who wanted to spread Christianity to Pagans at the time, incorporated Pagan traditions into their celebration of Christmas in hopes that it would make the transition to Christianity easier. Today, Christmas is celebrated in a variety of ways by both Christians and non-Christians, but we still often see a mix of these Pagan traditions.  

Hannukah

By: Kiana Gowdy

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday that begins on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, which varies on the Gregorian calendar. In 2024, it begins at sundown on December 25th and ends on January 2nd. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Jewish people drove out the Syrian King, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who outlawed the Jewish religion. According to the Talmud (a religious text), there was only enough oil to light a candle for one night, however it lasted eight nights. From this, Hanukkah became an eight day celebration where a candle is lit on a menorah each night. There are nine candle spots on the menorah, and the center candle, called the shamash, helps light the eight others. Along with this, Hanukkah is also often celebrated with foods, like latkes and sufganiyot, and the game of dreidel.

Compared to Hanukkah and Christmas, Kwanzaa is still a fairly new holiday as it was first celebrated in 1966. Kwanzaa is an African American holiday created by Maulana Ron Karenga who was a professor of Africana studies at CSU Long Beach. It is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st in order to celebrate African American heritage and culture and drawing inspiration from African harvest festivals. There are seven principles of Kwanzaa, called the Nguzo Saba. They are:

Umoja (Unity)

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

Ujima (Collective Responsibility)

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

Nia (Purpose)

Kuumba (Creativity)

Imani (Faith)

A candle is lit on the kinara each night to represent these principles. The biggest celebration of Kwanzaa occurs on December 31st, where everyone gathers for a large feast called the karamu. Additionally, the celebration also often includes singing, dancing, and music throughout the week.

Our Middle College seniors are (hopefully) finishing up the last of their college applications leading to the next step: scholarships! Take a look at the scholarship lists below created for the San Mateo Union High School District.

• SMUHSD Scholarships
• SMUHSD Scholarships by School

Other next steps for seniors:

1) Check your emails! The last thing you want to do is miss out on important, time-sensitive information and deadlines from your colleges. Make sure to check your junk folder!

2) Send in mid-year reports. Check with your college to see if you have to send in any mid-year reports. The deadline varies by college so make sure to check your application portal.

3) Fill out the FAFSA for financial aid. Don't worry because you still have plenty of time for this one, but if you would like to get a head start over break then go for it. The official federal deadline is June 30th.

4) Look out for college decisions! Most of these are months away, but some school's decisions are right around the corner. Now I know we all have the date when the decisions come out in the back of our minds, but by the slightest chance you forgot:

• UC Campuses: Mid to late March (varies by campus)
• CSU Campuses: February - March (varies by campus)
• Other Schools: Vary (check your application portal or school's website)

5) Lastly, RELAX. Once you get all your college applications in, take a breather. For those of you with a January or February deadline, your almost there!

Tips for Juniors!

Juniors have one semester left before senior year! If you happen to be one of those juniors and are feeling extra excited for the future, here are some things you can do.

First, you can start to think about what you would like to do after high school, whether it be to go to a 4-year college, stay at CSM, attend trade school, take a gap year, study abroad, or directly enter the work-force. From here, you can research specific opportunities.

If you wish to go to a 4-year college or CSM (and any other community colleges), you can start thinking about potential majors, researching schools, visiting schools, and looking up requirements for that school. For instance, check for testing requirements (SAT/ACT) as many colleges are starting to require tests scores again (and you might want to take it multiple times).

Additionally, if you wish to go a step further, you could research course requirements that you could get out of the way while at Middle College and you could join any clubs that suit your desired major and interests. Not every college will take your CSM credits, so you will have to look at specific schools.

In case you have more time for clubs next semester, take a look at the club schedule:

A big THANK YOU to our MC Community Fund Donors!

Please consider donating to our community fund! The funds help offset the costs of field trips, guest speakers, events, and supplies for our spring and fall Community Days - events that bring all Middle College students together. We accept Square donations or checks made out to San Mateo Middle College. Any staff member can accept these donations, or you can mail a check to 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd., Building 12, Office 213, San Mateo, 94402

Middle College Newsletter Staff

Kiana Gowdy (12)

Editor-in-Chief

Natasha Efron (12)

Writer/Editor

Viviana Lopez (12)

Writer/Editor/Photographer

Karis Kim (12)

Writer

Ocean Wilberg (12)

Writer/Editor

Joey Situ (12)

Writer/Editor

Sam Lin (12)

Photographer

Rishika Sahu (12)

Photographer

Anthony Friis (12)

Photographer

Kevin Soto (11)

Photographer

Have a great winter break!!!