Group of diverse women volunteers in winter jackets, hats, scarves outside

Videos: The Best Ways to Stay Busy and Give Back During Winter Break

Are you looking for stuff to do during winter break? Check out these videos for fun ideas to keep you busy and ways to give back to the local community.

We all love a little break—especially after a long semester working hard at school! But sometimes with so much time off, we run out of things to do and need some new ideas. Check out college student Jordan-Paige’s video below to see how she’s spending her winter break while she’s home for the holidays.  

Top things to do this winter break

These may all seem obvious, but when your mind is so focused on just having a break after finishing exams and final papers, it’s easy to forget about the simple things. Here are the best ways to spend your winter break:

  • Travel (safely) to visit friends and family
  • Get a jump-start on schoolwork
  • Celebrations! Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, etc.
  • Catch up with friends and family
  • SLEEP! Seriously—give your body the rest it needs
  • Enjoy yummy home-cooked meals

Related: 13 Tips for Winter Break and Second Semester Success

You can also give back to your community while on break—donate clothes, raise money, or volunteer your time. The holidays are always a great time to help others, and many organizations hold events to encourage the community to participate. To give you an idea of what you can get involved in, check out student vlogger Olivia’s suggestions for five ways to help others during the holidays. 

Ways to give back to the community

  • Host a food drive: Ask your church, sports team, family, and friends to start collecting food for your local food pantry.
  • Shovel for people: If you get snow (like we do up North) and don’t mind being out in the cold for a bit, offer to help your neighbors shovel their driveways.
  • Volunteer at local organizations: Ask your local homeless shelter, soup kitchen, elementary school, church, library, or animal shelter if they need volunteers. Most of the time, they’ll say yes!
  • Spread kindness: Brighten up someone’s day just by holding the door, smiling at them, or helping them carry their groceries.
  • Help out around your house: Even something as simple as helping your parents clean up and do chores around the house more than usual can make a huge impact on your family—who are your own personal community.

Related: Give the Gift of Volunteering: 7 Opportunities for Winter Break

The CollegeXpress Team wishes you a happy, relaxing, and healthy winter break. You’ve worked so hard this semester through a lot of hurdles and struggles, but you made it through! Be sure to appreciate your accomplishments and enjoy your well-deserved time off.

For more vlogs from students just like you, check out the CollegeXpress YouTube channel!

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About CollegeXpress

CollegeXpress

Welcome to CollegeXpress, your one-stop college shop! We’re a free college planning website used by millions of college-bound students, parents, and counselors—anyone who needs help navigating the college search and application process, financial aid opportunities, and more. 

You’ll find comprehensive College Search and Scholarship Search tools, tons of articles and expert advice, unique college Lists & Rankings, and lots of other resources to help make your life easier. Teen Vogue even named us one of the 7 Best College Search Websites!

Current college students and recent grads also love CollegeXpress for our Graduate Program Search tool and endless information on student life, internships, and beyond. We really have something for everyone, no matter where you are in your college journey.

Create a free CollegeXpress account to start connecting with colleges, winning scholarships, and simplifying your life as a student!

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.

Columbus State University

Columbus, GA


Hailey Riddile

Hailey Riddile

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress has helped me find scholarships to apply for and look into more colleges. While there are many websites similar to CollegeXpress, every website is different, and I've found a lot of good insight on this website. Receiving emails from CollegeXpress about scholarships is extremely useful, and getting insight about colleges near, far, and anywhere in between helps me narrow down my choices to what I want, which is also super helpful. The articles are always really good reads, and I can't stress enough how helpful this website has been to me. Anything related to college is beneficial to me as a senior, and I have learned lots of useful things to help me on my college journey this year.

Caitlin Eaton

Caitlin Eaton

$10,000 Scholarship Winner, 2021

I first discovered CollegeXpress during my sophomore year of high school while researching colleges that interested me. My SAT prep class the following year further familiarized me with the opportunities available through the organization. CX has personally helped me by exposing me to a diverse selection of schools as well as scholarships and life tips that have provided valuable guidance in my college search.

This scholarship will help me adjust to college life without worrying as much about tuition. This gives me more room to truly explore and benefit from all aspects of higher education. I plan to study Conservation Biology and work protecting species/ecosystems. I’m looking forward to getting field experience and seeing firsthand the problems research is solving.

Keaun Brown

Keaun Brown

$2,000 Community Service Scholarship Winner, 2020

As I transition to furthering my education, I can say with certainty that it simply wouldn’t be possible without the help of generous organizations such as CollegeXpress. Those who initially founded CX had no idea their platform would give a plethora of information to a first-generation homeless kid native to the ghettos of over half a dozen states. Everyone at CX and Carnegie Dartlet gave me a chance at a future when the statistics said I had none. And for that, I thank them.

Lorena Bacallao

Lorena Bacallao

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress was the foundation of my college search process. Because of CollegeXpress, I was able to make a more informed and confident decision as to where it was best to pursue my higher education. I have recommended this website to fellow peers and for first-generation students like me. It’s a website I will continue to promote because of how simple it was to use and how many opportunities were offered to me at my fingertips!

Nikole Dixon

Nikole Dixon

$500 Refer-a-Friend Scholarship Winner

Toward the beginning of last year, I was searching for scholarships to apply to through my school, town, websites online, and anything else I could find. I asked tons of questions [online] about scholarships and the best places to find them because I was desperate and needed as many as I could find. I came across a ton of bogus websites, but as soon as I found CollegeXpress, I knew I had to tell other people about it. It was definitely the most helpful site I came across, so I told my friends about it. CollegeXpress is definitely a website worth giving as a source.