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Every Thanksgiving, families gather around the table to relive the Pilgrims’ feast with the Native Americans after a successful harvest in the 1600s. These were the founders of our country, here in America to start new lives of freedom.

“Thanksgiving is about new arrivals,” da Rosa said. “Immigrants are new arrivals, and the Pilgrims were new arrivals. There’s a connection.”

Sophomore Kira Ostapenko has been celebrating Thanksgiving since she moved to America at the age of six from Ukraine.

For her, the simplicity of having her small family gathered around a table of food is enough to fulfill the Thanksgiving experience. “It’s not something we plan for weeks and weeks ahead,” she said. “It’s nice to socialize at the table with family you’re not always with. It’s kind of like Christmas.”

Unvala believes that there’s no real American Thanksgiving. “We’re all American,” she said. Thanksgiving “is just how you celebrate it with your family. It’s a family holiday.

Julie Gerard

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