Get your bows and arrows out and hit the woods. That’s right; it’s time for fall! It is the time of the season where the leaves are changing color and starting to drop, birds are migrating south and the football season is underway. Fall is the season filled with beautiful colors and warm smells that make it such a great time to be with family.
This year’s fall break for Elizabethtown College students fell on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 7 through 8, rather than the traditional Thursday and Friday leading into the weekend. Whatever way you look at it, it is still a four-day weekend. Is it better or worse to have fall break on the Monday and Tuesday? It can be argued either way, but there are some benefits that go along with having it on Monday and Tuesday, accompanied by some disadvantages.
For the hunters on campus, this change in time for fall break was a great surprise. Archery season started on Saturday, Oct. 5. Having fall break on Monday and Tuesday gave hunters two extra days off of school to try to take down the 14-point buck they’ve been dreaming about it. Having said this, the weather was not opportune for the hunting experience; it was warm, which is not prime weather for harvesting a deer. Either way, these two school-free days gave hunters the opportunity to wake up early and become one with nature in the woods.
Having interviewed a few students on campus, I found their thoughts on this change in time for break to be similar to mine. “The change in break did not change my plans at all, it was still a nice break from school work,” stated Luke Gatti, a junior. Gatti proceeded to talk about the quality time he was able to spend with his family and loved ones.
Brian Portillo, a first-year stated, “I actually preferred the break on Monday and Tuesday, rather than Thursday and Friday because my schedule for Thursdays and Fridays is easier for me.” This was Portillo’s first break from school while attending Etown. He mentioned spending time with family and friends that he hadn’t seen in months. “It was nice to see everyone from home again,” he said.
Break on Monday and Tuesday did come with a few difficulties for some students though. Both Gatti and Portillo explained that coming back in the middle of the week threw them off a little. It is a nice surprise to have another short week, but not remembering what class you have the next day could pose a few difficulties. Also, having a Monday schedule on a Wednesday could result in setting alarms for the wrong times and make students miss class, affecting their attendance grades.
Along with the possibility of going to a wrong class or being late, the chances of being productive with school work could also have been affected. For a majority of students, coming back in the middle of the week could make their motivation to do school work difficult. But, those students who did work over break most likely stayed up to date with their classes and had no need to play catch-up. A Thursday through Friday fall break most likely would not change a student’s decision to do work, or when they do it.
Traveling could be another possible hassle or blessing with the change. Depending on where students were traveling to and from campus, traffic could have been easier or more hectic. For me, traffic was a lot easier with the change. Leaving campus on Friday around noon made for easy traveling since I wasn’t driving during rush hour, and coming back was even easier. After leaving at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, the traffic was really light, which made the journey back to campus especially pleasant.
Did the change of having fall break on Monday and Tuesday have a drastic effect on students? In my opinion, it did not change that much; students still received a four-day break from classes that allowed them to probably do the same activities they would have done on a Thursday through Friday break. However, there are some positives and negatives to the change, and it just depends on who you are and what your schedule is like.
