With the Thanksgiving Break in progress, Simpson’s campus is quiet. Most of the students have gone home to visit with family for the holiday.

But throughout the campus, a few rooms will still have their lights on. Some student athletes who live out of state, with their busy schedules, don’t have time to go home to see their families. So instead they have to make other plans for their holiday.

One of these student athletes not able to go home is Nicole Crisp.

Crisp is a senior on the basketball team and is unable to make it home to Shiprock, New Mexico because of her tight schedule with the team.

“We have a game Tuesday, then Wednesday is off, practice Thursday night and then the tournament this weekend,” Crisp said. “So there is no way I could go make it home and back.”

Crisp won’t be able to make the 1,000 mile trip to Shiprock, but she isn’t going to be spending this Thanksgiving alone.

“My mom is going to be coming out this year,” Crisp said. “So she’s kind of ditching my family back home to spend Thanksgiving with me out here..”

Last year Crisp had the same situation around Thanksgiving break. But instead of her mom coming out, a friend made the trip and the two had Thanksgiving together.

“I have teammates, and my coach too, that will invite me to have dinner with them at their place,” Crisp said. “Pretty much everyone else on the team is from around here, or a few hours away so they can make it home.”

Being so far away from home is tough sometimes for Crisp who says the toughest thing about it is not seeing her family as often as she would like to.

“Pretty much all my teammates can go home to see their families,” Crisp said. “I have five nephews and one niece back home, so being away form them and the rest of my family is the hardest part. Back home we usually just have a big dinner for Thanksgiving, and then sleep the rest of the day.”

The only time Crisp can make it home during the school year is during Christmas break. But being in the middle of basketball season, she only gets to have one week off.

During long weekends, Thanksgiving, and fall break, however, Crisp remains in Iowa.

Crisp and her teammates, as well as the other winter student athletes, will have to cut their breaks short during the holidays, to keep practicing and competing.