By Adam Buchanan
Birds are chirping, the sun is out, the temperature is rising, and what are BYU students doing? Sitting inside, listening to lectures.
Spring break? What”s that?
“I”m sorry you guys are still in school,” said Scott Wakefield, an information systems major at UVSC who was off for spring break last week. “You”re suffering while I”m up here playing in Seattle.”
On UVSC”s three-day spring break, Wakefield took a trip with UVSC”s technology club to Seattle to have fun and learn about technology. They visited Boeing, Microsoft and even went to the space needle.
“Spring break is necessary,” Wakefield said. “It gives you a chance to catch up and regroup.”
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said BYU does not offer a spring break for two primary reasons.
“One is because of our tight schedule,” Jenkins said. “We have the two terms in the summer, and we also have education week.”
Jenkins also said in talking to students, university administrators have found not having a spring break gets students out of school earlier than other colleges and universities, giving them the jump on jobs and internships.
“This has turned out to be enough of an advantage to students to forgo spring break,” Jenkins said.
Despite the benefits from getting out of school sooner, some BYU students still wish they had a short break during winter semester.
“We don”t get a break all winter semester,” said Lucy Dunn, a sophomore from Medford, Ore., majoring in business management. “It would be nice to have a short break to relax, so everyone isn”t all frazzled by the time finals come around.”
Many college students who get a spring break would not give it up.
“Spring break is probably one of the best things in the whole wide world, even if you don”t go anywhere,” said Desirae Bagley, a sophomore at UVSC, majoring in history education. “It”s a chance to get caught up on homework and sleep.”
Before going to UVSC, Bagley spent one and a half years at LDS Business College, which also has a spring break.
“I think [BYU] should at least try it,” Bagley said. “You know, for sanity purposes.”
But despite the lack of break, some students still take one.
Sarah Hall, an MPA student from Iowa City, Iowa, went to Moab over the weekend to compete in a half-marathon.
“It”s nice to have something else in the middle of the semester to focus on besides school,” Hall said. “Utah has so many wonderful parks and scenery. It would be nice to take advantage of them.”
