During this year’s break, students are traveling, keeping up with traditions and creating new ones, all during the 14-day break.

Senior Evan McFarland is heading to Montana to visit his uncle, cousin, and godfather.

“We need to buffalo hunt because we are almost out of buffalo meat,” McFarland said.

He will be spending five days keeping up the tradition that has been around since his ancestors moved to America.

Unlike her previous Christmas traditions, Madeline Yarnell and her family are headed across the country to Washington, D.C. to visit with her uncle and site see.

“This is a present from my grandparents to me and my two older brothers,” Yarnell said.

She is most looking forward to visiting all the monuments. “When I went in eighth grade, my family visited D.C. but we weren’t there for that long, so we didn’t get to see everything.”

Henry Bodde and his family are taking a family vacation to Hawaii during Winter Break due to their older brother’s commitment to the Army.

“It’s one of the rare times we are all off at the same time,” Bodde said.

He and his family will explore the state by snorkeling, hiking volcanoes, surfing and spending time on the beach.

“I’ve never been so it will be a new experience for me.”

Since the age of 5, Chrystian Vaughn-Taylor  has been alternating Christmas and Thanksgiving with her between her parents in St. Louis and Kansas City.

“I will be spending Christmas time with my dad this year,” Vaughn-Taylor said.

She will ride the train half-way with her mom and then ride the rest of the way with her dad on Christmas Eve. Once there, Vaughn-Taylor will “walk around the plaza, look at the lights, go ice skating, and to the movies on Christmas Day with the entire family.”

Pattonville students are leaving school and headed all across the state and even the country. No matter where these students are headed, they all expect they will experience new things, whether that’s through keeping old traditions alive or by creating new traditions as they go.