It’s that time of year! The leaves turning brown and falling to the ground. Storefronts are filled with fall decorations to show holiday spirit and grandparents stock their refrigerators with goodies to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving requires a lot of planning to make sure things run smoothly and travel is a big part of that. Everybody has to make sure they get to their final destination to see their family and friends.

WJ has over 2,500 teachers and students with many who celebrate Thanksgiving and travel to see their family and friends. Some families like to get away for a little bit and relax, while others like to visit family who they haven’t seen in a while.

Junior Konchok Chophel traveled to New York to visit his whole family.

“I’m excited to see my family because we have not seen each other in quite some time,” Chophel said.

Chophel stayed in Queens and planned to watch football and go to Times Square with his cousins.

Paraeducator and JV basketball coach Chase Rieder headed somewhere he and his family go every other year for Thanksgiving.

“My family and I go to Israel. It’s a family tradition to travel to Israel during Thanksgiving so we can rediscover our faith before Hanukkah,” Rieder said.

This has been a tradition is Rieder’s family since he was a little kid and even as an adult he looks forward to it every time.

Other students were not as joyful about where they celebrated Thanksgiving. Staying home is never fun while your friends are traveling with their families.

“I had to go to my aunts house like 20 minutes away because my dad makes me go every year. I want to go to cool places like all my friends,” freshman Elizabeth Sansbury said.

Others did not traveling but had people traveling to see them. Tech teacher Kevin Daney had people coming from China to experience their first Thanksgiving.

“It’s going to be a cool and exciting experience. We have never done something like this and we are just happy we are helping people with their first Thanksgiving,” Daney said.

It was his guests first time in America and he planned to show them around DC and hopefully Mount Vernon.

“We want to show them the history,” Daney said.

Thanksgiving is a holiday meant to be spent with your family and friends. It is a time when people look around and acknowledge all the great things in life, whether have to travelling or staying at home.