For the upcoming season of love, students search for unique, picture-perfect spots for Valentine’s Day. Celebrating this holiday, however, is a personal experience, and distinctive settings reflect this. Whether you’re spending time with a very special person, friends, or family, hear from these five Oxford students on their unique traditions and where they plan to spend this Valentine’s Day.
Alannah Robianes, 8th Grade:
What does Valentine’s Day mean to you?
“Valentine’s Day, to me, is a day of love and celebration, and it’s a way to enjoy all the connections that you’ve made with other people.”
How do you spend Valentine’s day?
“For Valentine’s Day, I’d rather go to Jollibee and have my meal — fried chicken, a pineapple quencher, and peach mango pie — than actually spend it with someone. For one, Jollibee has been my comfort food for a very long time…especially because I’m Filipino, it’s very nostalgic.”
Ameera Shameem, 9th Grade:
What Valentine’s traditions do you have?
“Sometimes I go with my mom to the bookstore. We go out as mom-and-daughter because I think it’s still important to show self-love and love for your family and friends on Valentine’s Day…There’s also a place that she likes to go to near the bookstore called the World Market, …I like fantasy books and then she can go to the World Market and look at the trinkets.”
Sal Pluhar, 11th Grade:
(Photo by Tyler Nguyen)
How do you like to spend Valentine’s Day?
“I prefer to make crafts at home just because it’s a lot cheaper than going out and doing something, and it’s also more fun to bond with my partner. We like to do a lot of sculpting and we also paint.”
What does this holiday mean to you?
“Valentine’s Day is a day of celebrating the people you love most. It doesn’t have to be a romantic thing, it’s just about celebrating the people closest to you and how far you’ve come in your relationship.”
Prerna Wadhwa, 8th Grade:
(Photo by Tyler Nguyen)
What is your Valentine’s tradition?
“Most of the time I’ll just hang out with friends, and grab boba. There’s a place near my house, CrafTea, which is really good…I like the matcha with brown sugar pearls, or just the regular brown milk tea.”
Yselle Alvarez, 9th Grade:
What are you doing this Valentine’s Day?
“My friends are planning to have a ‘Galentine’s’ at [my friend’s] community pool house. And usually we all go in the pool and then we eat food and we do karaoke. She usually always buys Jollibee or [Raising] Cane’s or something equivalent to that.”
What other traditions do you have for this holiday?
“Some people swim, some people tan, but we almost always sing Hamilton just because everybody knows it, and it has a lot of fun songs.”
From opening a bucket of freshly fried chicken to delving into detailed fantasy novels, love is truly captured in the small moments for these Oxford students! The Gamut hopes you will take inspiration from these celebrations and take the time this holiday to celebrate all of the people you love in your life — including yourself.
