Midwinter break is a four day weekend from February 11-14, February 11th being a Friday, and the 14th being Valentine’s Day. Since there’s no school, students get an opportunity to do whatever they’d like for the weekend.

Junior Connor Henson hasn’t before heard of it. “I didn’t know there was a midwinter break nor have I heard of one,” he says. “I’ll probably just stay home and play video games and draw.”

One thing to do to avoid being trapped in the house is to go ice skating. The Mullett Ice Center on the Arrowhead campus is open for public skating on both the 12th and the 13th, and each session is from 1:30pm-3pm. To skate is $7 for adults, $6 for youth and seniors, and an ice-skate rental is $3.50 for both figure skates and hockey skates.

Another Junior, Connor Paddock, says “My plans for midwinter break are to work and play video games.”

If one wishes to indulge in gaming, there are a few trending games–depending on the console. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game for the Nintendo Switch which features cutesy anthropomorphic animals in an open world game. AC:NH is about $60. 

Another trending game is Minecraft, which is also an open world game, and there are almost endless building possibilities with only one catch–everything is made of blocks. Minecraft costs around $30, depending on the site it is purchased from.

Overall, a break from school is a relief to students. Henson comments, “I’m pretty excited anyway. Any days off from school are nice.”

Paddock agrees. “I’m excited because it is time off of school. I can sleep in.”

For Valentine’s day, boxes of chocolates can be purchased almost at any store, including Dollar Tree and Meijer. Amazon also offers a gift-shipping service to those far apart that want to show appreciation for their loved ones.