From the cathedrals of Mexico City to the snow-capped slopes of Colorado, Knights went to a variety of far-flung locales during Spring Break. Many students and staff used this time to connect with family and friends after a busy year, while others used it to have plain old fun, such as skiing, triathlon training and visiting aquariums. 

Many students also used this time to visit colleges—both as juniors tentatively stepping into the world of college applications and seniors finalizing their decisions. No matter what, Spring Break proved to be a nice recharge whether through family bonding or new adventures as the Knights prepare to finish out the school year. 

We are pleased to showcase students and staffs’ Spring Break adventures for this week’s Tuesday Top 10.

Gallery • 10 Photos

courtesy of Ada de la Garza

A COOL CATHEDRAL: Ada (Bug) de la Garza poses with her mom, Jennifer Lueckemeyer, and her younger brother, Henry de la Garza, inside of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City. Built by Spanish colonizers in the late 1500s, de la Garza enjoyed the chance to see its famous catacombs, complex architecture and golden statues and archways. “I’m not very religious, but it was breathtaking and ornate,” de la Garza said. “I thought it was really interesting because I’ve never seen a church that big or that fancy, and it just blew my mind.” After being awed by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico, de la Garza decided to visit other cathedrals in Mexico City. De la Garza also visited the pyramids outside of Mexico City, markets and five museums. “I really liked seeing the art and the buildings because it’s a lot different than stuff in the United States,” de la Garza said. While de la Garza enjoyed traveling to Mexico City, she admits there were some difficulties, due to the language barrier and the fact that the trip was her first time going to another country. “Customs were kind of a lot, and there were a bunch of things I had to get used to,” de la Garza said. Despite the challenges traveling internationally for her first time presented, de la Garza was grateful for the experience. “It was really fun, and I think it was worth it,” de la Garza said. “ I felt like I learned a lot and would be able to travel internationally more easily now.” Caption by Elizabeth Nation.

TRIPLE TROUBLE: Over spring break, senior dance majors and longtime friends Zalie Mann and Eli Lopez began training for a triathlon. Triathlons are multisport races in which athletes compete for the fastest time in all three events, with transition time factored into completion. It was invented in Southern California in the 70s and gradually assumed greater prominence, becoming an Olympic sport in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Mann and Lopez met as dance majors at Lamar, and their friendship has slowly blossomed over the years. Mann said that training for a triathlon proved to be exactly what she needed at this stage in her life; while originally the triathlon was only a joke between friends a couple of years ago, it turned out to be transformative for both of them.

“Now since I’m recovering from an injury, I’ve already had to cross train with running, biking and swimming, so we decided to make it part of our training”, Mann said. “It’s nice to have a partner to motivate me to heal, but primarily it’s the beginning of our journey to hopefully doing a half triathlon together sometime in our future.”

Mann said that training for the triathlon has greatly enriched her bond with Lopez, and that the two were perfectly suited to cheering each other on during the physically arduous tasks.

“We also just have a lot of shared interests, and there’s no one I’d rather do a triathlon together with than Eli,” Mann said. “Eli and I have been dancing together for seven years, and we’re really close friends. In junior year, we both went on the dance trip to Portland where we participated in the National HS Dance Festival, and we have a lot of fun memories from that trip! We also played paintball over the break, which was awesome.”

Their friendship, according to Mann, has allowed her to surmount the obstacles in her path while embracing change. It’s served to restore her self-confidence and bring a sense of normalcy into her life.

“My recovery has been going well,” Mann said. “ Over spring break, we were biking a trail that I had done a few weeks prior, and I warned Eli that there was a hill I wouldn’t be able to make it up because of my hip pain, but once we got there I struggled through and made it. I probably wouldn’t have even tried if she wasn’t there.”

Mann, who’s served as student choreographer and dance captain for numerous McCallum theatre and dance productions, as well as AISD Summer Theatre series shows, intends to study dance in college. While the injury has thrown somewhat of a wrench into her application season, she’s still determined to reemerge and test her fortitude.

“It’s been pretty tough since my injury took me out of college auditions, and it’s been pretty painful watching all of my friends hear back from their schools while I can’t even finish applying,” Mann said. “But I definitely think this has given me a good perspective on my future with dance. I would be really disappointed if I was out for six months and didn’t even have the energy or motivation to come back, but all I did for those six months was long for the day I could start again. I’m still working hard to get my strength back but hopefully I’ll come back better than I was before.”

Caption by Beatrix Lozach. Photo courtesy of Zalie Mann.

TEXAS ROOTS NEVER DIE: Over spring break, juniors Emerson Merritt, Rylie Ruppersberg, Jill Hoffman, Chloe Seckar-Martinez, Olivia Pittman, and Corrine Hampton all made the two-hour flight to Winter Garden, Fla., to visit former Blue Brigade teammate and current best friend, Ruhi Motwani.

Merritt says the group made the trek to Florida after Motwani, former Knight turned Floridian, originally texted the group back in November after figuring out the girls shared the same Spring Break.

“Ruhi texted all of us maybe in November and said, ‘What are y’all doing for spring break because we have the same week off,’ so we thought we would go visit her,” Merritt said. “Tons of preparation went into this trip because there were six of us all together so we had to make sure we got all the same flights and whatnot.”

Due to the group’s busy schedules, Merritt said, a meetup between the friend group is rare, so having this time to spend with each other was important to Merritt.

“Ruhi doesn’t get to come to Texas as much anymore, obviously plane tickets are expensive, but we also are on completely different schedules,” Merritt said. “So it’s really important to see her because we know she really misses us, and we really miss her, so we wanted to make her feel special, especially since March was her birth month too, so we even got to celebrate that.”

Merritt says the group plans to reunite possibly over the summer, and Motwani is confirmed to be coming down for the 13th Annual Austin City Limits Festival next October.

Caption by Sofia Saucedo. Photo courtesy of Emerson Merritt.

A COOL CATHEDRAL: Ada (Bug) de la Garza poses with her mom, Jennifer Lueckemeyer, and her younger brother, Henry de la Garza, inside of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City. Built by Spanish colonizers in the late 1500s, de la Garza enjoyed the chance to see its famous catacombs, complex architecture and golden statues and archways.

“I’m not very religious, but it was breathtaking and ornate,” de la Garza said. “I thought it was really interesting because I’ve never seen a church that big or that fancy, and it just blew my mind.”

After being awed by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico, de la Garza decided to visit other cathedrals in Mexico City. De la Garza also visited the pyramids outside of Mexico City, markets and five museums.

“I really liked seeing the art and the buildings because it’s a lot different than stuff in the United States,” de la Garza said.

While de la Garza enjoyed traveling to Mexico City, she admits there were some difficulties, due to the language barrier and the fact that the trip was her first time going to another country.

“Customs were kind of a lot, and there were a bunch of things I had to get used to,” de la Garza said.

Despite the challenges traveling internationally for her first time presented, de la Garza was grateful for the experience.

“It was really fun, and I think it was worth it,” de la Garza said. “ I felt like I learned a lot and would be able to travel internationally more easily now.”

Caption by Elizabeth Nation. Photo courtesy of Ada (Bug) de la Garza.

SEALS IN SEATTLE: Senior Cilley Phan photographs seals at the Seattle Aquarium on the boardwalk. 

Phan travelled to Seattle with her boyfriend and his family to visit relatives in the area. 

“My favorite part was probably the Pikes Place Market,” Phan said. “It had a ton of different vendors, and it was really fun to just walk through it and see all that.” 

Phan said she enjoyed the trip to the aquarium, and the overall trip to Seattle with all of its natural beauty. 

“It’s always cool to see animals that I don’t normally see, and fish are just so mesmerizing,” Phan said. “I loved it, the weather was great and just the kind I like, and it was beautiful there.”

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo courtesy of Cilley Phan. 

FOOD, CARD GAMES AND SPORTS: Newspaper adviser and the heart behind MacJ, David Winter, poses with some of his family in homemade Iowa shirts that they made to commemorate his cousin’s girlfriend’s first March Madness experience with his family. Winter’s cousin, John Plonkey, brought his girlfriend, Kim Dobbins, to the Plonkey family March Madness reunion. Dobbins is a diehard Iowa fan so Zach Brown (I), Chris Winter (O), Winter (W) and Jefferey Winter (A) dressed up in matching shirts and learned the Iowa fight song. 

“We learned the Iowa fight song and did a performance of it before the Iowa women’s game to welcome Kim into the family of March Madness,” Winter said. “We walked out one at a time and formed the I-O-W-A in front of the TV and started signing.

Winter’s other cousin, Lennie Victor, whom Winter called a pillar in their family, started the family tournament pool in the ’80s through a letter to the whole family. There is a pool of money that is split among the teams that make the Elite Eight. The team that the person is associated with is assigned by a random draw the Wednesday before Round 1 begins on Thursday. 

“After we got the pool started, we eventually decided to make a gathering out of it, so we would come meet in some place and play cards, cook for each other, eat and watch basketball,” Winter said. “It’s kind of delicious when somebody gets a team that they normally despise.”

One distinct memory that Winter has from this break is when his daughter and Class of 2022 McCallum graduate, Annabel Winter, was assigned St. John’s, a No. 2 seed, to win. Annabel attends the University of Arkansas, so when St. John’s and Arkansas met up in the round of 32, Annabelle was torn about who to support. 

“She said, with her brains, without thinking about how it would affect her heart, ‘Well I’ve given Arkansas a lot of money, so I’m going to root for St. John’s because they could actually earn me money,’” Winter said. “She changed her mind as the game was unfolding and said, ‘I can’t do this. I feel guilty rooting against my school.’”

The Arkansas Razorbacks ended up upsetting the St. John’s Red Storm and winning the game 75-66.

Along with the tournament, the Plonkey family members engage in various card games: euchre and pinochle. Winter pointed out that he doesn’t win often, but this year he won some games much to his mom’s surprise. 

“I won a lot more games than I lost, and I felt really good about it, until my mom said, ‘What has gotten into you? You usually stink,’” Winter said. 

Due to Winter’s busy schedule during the year, he isn’t able to visit his family a lot, so he said this break was the perfect opportunity to catch up with them.

Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo courtesy of David Winter.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING: Sophomore Emma Simon spent her spring break in California, but instead of the beaches, she hit the slopes. Simon said that the trip was a fun way for her to bond with her family and learn a new skill. 

“I’ve never really been skiing before, so I fell a lot, but it was really fun to learn something new with my family,” Simon said. “Skiing was a lot harder than I thought it would be to be honest. I thought I would just glide around, but that was not the case.”

For Simon and family, seeing snow is a rare occurrence, since they live in Texas and vacation in Iowa in the summers. 

“I almost never see snow, and I was freezing the entire time, but I still managed to have a really good time,” Simon said.

Overall, Simon said she hopes that her family will take another trip together soon. 

“It was a super nice bonding experience for us, especially for me and my sister,” Simon said. “I’d love for us to have that again soon.”

Caption by Katie Martin. Photo courtesy of Emma Simon.

SPRING BREAK SPECTACULAR Sophomore Alana Ramsey takes off to the Flora Bama shore for her sister, senior Sofia Ramsey’s graduation trip. Alana said the trip gave her a chance for some much-needed recharge. 

“School was stressful, though knowing I would soon be in Orange Beach lifted my spirits,” Alana said. “I was excited to tan, eat and shop for a whole week.” 

Alana said the break spent in Orange Beach was filled with events and a packed itinerary, and it was filled with lots of celebration and fun for her sister’s graduation trip. 

“We swam, ate loads, went to a nearby shopping center, and there was a fun amusement park down the street,” Alana said. 

Although bittersweet, Alana felt that this was a perfect sendoff for her sister and was full of memories, laughs and adventures.

“The trip was perfect,” she said. “We got to stay right on the beach and do whatever we felt looked fun that day. I definitely think spring break was a success this year.”

Caption by Eva Sanchez. Photo courtesy of Alana Ramsey.

COLORADO COLLEGES: Senior Harper Freach and her family drove to Colorado with a small detour in New Mexico.

“My family and I took a three-hour detour through a beautiful, scenic route through New Mexico,” Freach said. “We all are fans of Breaking Bad, so we stayed one night in Albuquerque and went to some of the famous spots.”

Freach applied to several universities throughout Colorado  including the University of Denver, Colorado State University and University of Colorado at Boulder and was hoping the trip would give her more insight for her ultimate decision. 

“When visiting the campuses again, I got a better feel of what it would be like to go to college because they were all in session, and I got to actually met with professors and figure out financial stuff and all the important things before the big decision,” Freach said. 

Aside from visiting the schools, Freach and her dad decided to hike at Panorama Point Trail near Morrison, Colo. 

“My dad and I decided to take on the challenge and hike to see the beautiful scenery and views from the mountain,” Freach said. “We just wanted to get away from the colleges for a second because it really helped me clear my mind and start to make the overall decision.” 

Overall, Freach said she’s very excited for her upcoming move to Colorado. 

“I need to get out of the heat as soon as I possibly can,” Freach said. “I’m ready for more outdoors time because it’s a big part of the culture.”

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo courtesy of Harper Freach.

BIG CATCH: Senior Link Stovall catches a swordfish while deep sea fishing in Playa Herradura, Costa Rica, over spring break.

Stovall said he’s been fishing a lot around Austin recently, which inspired him to go fishing in Costa Rica.

“I’ve been fishing on Lake Austin a bunch and caught a lot of bass,” Stovall said. “If I’m in a place like Costa Rica or Mexico or Port Aransas, I’m going to try and go saltwater fishing.”

Stovall said although the fish in the ocean can be an extra challenge, a big perk is being able to eat the fish after catching it.

“They fight harder,” Stovall said. “Also catch and cook is fun.”

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo courtesy of Link Stovall.

TRIP MADE IT OUT OF THE GROUPCHAT: Freshmen Wren Vanderford travelled with freshmen Sunday Cardinal and Caroline Atherton over spring break.

Vanderford said in the days leading up to the trip, she and her friends were full of excitement.

“We went with my friend Caroline’s family, and it was on pretty short notice, but I was super quick to grab onto the opportunity because my family rarely goes on vacation, which made the trip even more special,” Vanderford said. “We had been hyping it up and talking about it the entire week beforehand and were super excited.”

Out of everything, Vanderford said her favorite part was getting to visit the beach and simply being with her friends.

“We stayed in a neighborhood called Cinnamon Shores, which was super nice and fun to converse around since it had its own pools and restaurants, but we spent most of our time on the beach,” Vanderford said. “I enjoyed getting to go walking along the shore picking up shells, building sandcastles and just getting to chill and listen to music with all my friends.”

Aside from the fun activities, Vanderford said the trip allowed her to reconnect with her friends. With different interests and schedules, Vanderford said it can sometimes be hard to find time to hang out with each other.

“Out of all my friends, I think going with Sunday and Caroline was fun because we have very different interests and haven’t hung out in a group setting in a very long time, so we were able to catch up,” Vanderford said.

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo courtesy of Wren Vanderford.