Thanksgiving Break Raises Concerns Among International Students

By: Nhan Phan, Emi Levine, Kaylee Chen, Andrea Nystedt

As Thanksgiving Break approaches, many international students face challenges in planning flights and finding accommodation for the twelve-day break due to COVID and travel restrictions.

Although the Academy is currently not providing on-campus housing during the break, the Global Initiatives Office brought forward Exeter-led Thanksgiving Break programs for international students to travel in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., or Philadelphia. These programs will depart from campus on November 27, four days after the fall term ends, and return to campus on the day that dorms open for the winter term. 

International Student Coordinator Jennifer Smith noted that due to the short duration of the break and the length of mandatory post-travel quarantines, many international students are finding difficulty in creating appropriate travel plans. “Many countries still have strict mandatory quarantines in place—some up to 21 days! It’s not feasible to travel. Also, many flights are being canceled, leaving students to scramble to reschedule,” Smith said. “This break has always been a challenge for students to leave for just under two weeks, come back for two, then leave again for two.”

Director of Global Initiatives Eimer Page explained the Academy’s approach toward designing travel programs to best support international students. “I wanted to try to provide at least a partial solution to aid families as they weigh their options for Thanksgiving break. Finding a host for four nights is a lot easier than finding a host for the twelve nights of the break,” Page said. “I know that Ms. Smith is working hard to help place students with hosts for those four nights before these programs start if they have not been here long enough to make close bonds with local students. These programs are another option, but by no means a total fix.”

Page continued. “We selected destinations within driving distance of Exeter, and tried to design three very different lenses of inquiry for the programs so students would be genuinely interested in the experiences they would have. We also decided to subsidize these programs for all families so the full financial burden would not be borne by any family, and will automatically apply financial aid if applicable,” she said.

Smith noted that she is also supporting international students by connecting them with external programs or day student host families for the four day duration before the travel programs begin. “I’ve shared a few external program options for students to consider. Some are in Boston and will help students visit colleges, do SAT prep, etc. I am working on building our host family network and have connected with several day student families to possibly host students during the gaps in time of when the dorms close and the programs leave, or for all of break,” Smith said.

Page emphasised that COVID-19 cases are still present within the country and international, and still pose as a health concern for all students. “I have the same concerns for students who stay in the USA on these or other programs that I have for all of our students traveling domestically over break. As for those who are able to travel home, I know that many international destinations are doing better than the USA in terms of numbers of cases,” Page said. “I hope students will be able to enjoy a relaxing break after a long fall term, and will also be aware of CDC guidance on how to minimize the risk of infectious disease. These travel programs will follow those guidelines.” 

Page noted that aside from COVID safety concerns, the duration for which international students will spend away from their families may impact the wellbeing of students. “I am reassured by our high vaccination rate, but my concerns for international students are equally centered on the impact of being away from their families for so long. Having my own family on another continent, and understanding the reality of travel restrictions gives me some insight, and I will be doing my best to provide a secure and interesting experience for these students to unwind,” Page said.

Senior and International Student Alliance board member Nicholas Chen from Taiwan shared similar concerns, citing the negative impacts students may experience from being away from home for an extended period of time. “While I am fortunate enough to have family to stay with this Thanksgiving break, many of my fellow international students do not. My concern for the international student body is that, as a collective, we will experience ‘burnout’ to a much greater degree than domestic students because we are unable to return to the true, relaxing comforts of home,” Chen said.

Lower Rex Bedwick from Hong Kong noted that his family members had to plan to travel to the U.S. in order to see him. “I can't go back home because I have to quarantine for three weeks and that's longer than the break. So I literally can't go back even if I wanted to,” Bedwick said. “Fortunately, my mom's coming up and I think we're going to Boston or New York.”

Although many international students were appreciative of the Academy’s efforts to provide accomodation, students noted that financial burdens still pose a concern. “I do think that it is problematic to not allow students who live internationally to stay on campus for Thanksgiving break, especially those who don't have family in the US,” lower Alex Rosen from France said. “However, I do appreciate the programs that the Academy set forth to allow students to stay in the US. In fact, I myself am applying for one of these programs. Nevertheless, they are very expensive (despite subsidies from the school) and there are still some days at the beginning where I may have to stay with friends or family before the program starts.”

Chen believed that the Academy could have supported international students more. “I feel as if the Academy's recent decision is not supportive of the international student body's health and wellbeing. While the Academy is offering certain homestay programs, they are no substitute for our home countries,” Chen said. “Due to quarantine restrictions, many international students will be unable to return home until spring break at the earliest. The Academy should not be allowing this to happen.”

Senior Pedro Coelho from Brazil noted the financial challenges in finding accommodation. Coelho continued and pointed to Thanksgiving travel programs as a more viable option. “It's expensive to travel back home and then come back, you know,” he said. “It's much appreciated that Ms. Page and Ms. Smith and the Academy are able to provide these Thanksgiving travel programs that allow us to stay in the US without having to look for a place to rent or a host family or that sort of thing. That's actually been a great help.”

Senior Emily Wang from Singapore suggested that the Academy offer remote learning during the two weeks of winter term classes between Thanksgiving and Winter Break. “I didn't have any plans ahead of time because I was actually holding out hope that the school would make the two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas optional to be online so that I would be able to quarantine for two weeks, but also still see my family for a month,” Wang said.

Wang continued, expressing frustration at the Academy for not opening a remote-learning option. “We went through so much online class last year that they have so much experience and it would make sense because COVID is still such a big thing and it would allow international students to see their families for a few weeks, especially because our holidays are shorter than the two week quarantine period,” Wang said. “It's not like we're asking them to change the whole calendar or anything. We're just asking them for an option for online classes for those two weeks.”

However, some students acknowledged the reasonability for the Academy’s choices to keep campus student-free during Thanksgiving Break and to mandate in-person classes between Thanksgiving and Winter Break. 

Coelho noted that remote classes were established in the past due to COVID concerns. “Although COVID is still very much ravaging the world, we've seen that in many areas where vaccination is prevalent, cases are going down. This is the case for Exeter and Rockingham County. So it makes sense that they would try to cut back on remote classes as much as possible,” Coelho said.

Lower Jessica Phan acknowledged that the Academy’s staff would have to work during Thanksgiving break if students were allowed to stay on campus. “It certainly would be a lot more convenient for me and I'm sure for other people as well. But at the same time, I also understand there is a lot of maintenance and other things required to keep the Academy going. For all the staff, they deserve Thanksgiving break too!” Phan said. “So although I would like to stay because it's free, first of all, and no travel is needed, it's also understandable why I can’t. And I really liked that they at least gave us alternatives rather than just being like, ‘Yeah. Okay. Let's go somewhere.’”

S. Zhang agreed. “​​I think it's not unreasonable, to be honest. While I'm pretty sure the Academy has reasons why it would be difficult to keep students here, I do wish they would have at least clarified why instead of saying ‘We just can't do it,’” S. Zhang said.

International students also wished the Academy could have released Thanksgiving options earlier. “It was good that they had a survey to send out international students for like what their plans were for Thanksgiving, but I think they should have sent it out much earlier because to me it felt like whatever I put on the stairway survey, there wasn't enough time to change any plans they had or any programs they had,” Wang said. “I think that's the biggest concern of mine, that the school claims to be so accepting of international students, and they want us for our diversity, but in the end, they don't adequately support us.”

S. Zhang shared similar thoughts. “I was really glad that there were Thanksgiving break and Winter break opportunities presented, but I really wish they had come sooner - perhaps even during the later parts of summer break, as that would have been a time when many families of international students were planning accommodations during the Thanksgiving break,” Zhang said. 

Prep Davido Zhang from China shared appreciation for the Academy’s efforts to support international students. “The Academy did quite a lot of effort already when they let other organizations help out international students here. And then I was pretty surprised when the Academy actually hosted their own programs too because so far, I don't know any other boarding school that has ever done this,” D. Zhang said.

Smith reassured that the Academy is enlisting its best efforts to support international students while ensuring that faculty and staff can be released of responsibilities during Thanksgiving Break. “Some of our peer schools have not offered travel programs, or host family options. They are telling students they have to leave campus,” Smith said. “We are trying to find ways to balance the need to close campus so faculty can have a break and time with family, while supporting students from all over the world by making sure they can have reasonable travel plans. Also, the fact that we have a transportation coordinator (shout out to Ms. Jobarteh,) who gets the majority of our student body where they need to go several times a year is astounding. It’s easy to forget what a convenient luxury this is—it’s not the same at all schools!”