Maya Hall
Editor-in-Chief
In the midst of a pandemic, colleges across the country have made different, and difficult, decisions regarding spring break. With spring break being a notoriously popular time to travel, especially for college students, not all colleges went through with a spring break.
Butler did take a spring break, but other local colleges such as Wichita State, Kansas State and Emporia State did not have a spring break. Those colleges also had an extended winter break as well though, along with Butler.
Betsy Chairez, an elementary education major, share her input.
“I think it was important for us to get a break from all the stress that comes with school, especially since we are still in a pandemic and dealing with the stress that comes from that alone,” Chairez said. “At the same time though, not everyone takes the pandemic seriously, and they do not follow simple preventative regulations and they use their spring break to party and gather in large groups, which just hurts our Covid case numbers more.”
Florida made the news because many people, among them college students, traveled to Miami causing officials to enforce an emergency curfew. A Florida local news outlet, NBC South Florida, provides an online article listing an updated number of cases and deaths in each area of Florida.
The article, titled “Florida Adds 3,374 New Covid Cases, Reports 69 More Deaths Monday”, states that the state now has a 7.58% positivity rate and is on a four-day increase. They began reporting on this increase of cases after substantial numbers of travelers around the general time of spring break came along and around the same time, more positive Covid-19 cases occurred.
“Personally, I was glad that I was able to get a break from school and relax at home, but I know that people like to relieve themselves of their stress by partying and hanging out with their friends, which is not the best idea right now,” Chairez said.
With the circumstances of the past year, a break from school is overall beneficial to the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff when approached responsibly.
The uncertainty that came with the pandemic put a lot of pressure on people. For students, the pandemic caused a lot of worry over how their academic year and future altogether would look like. This created a significant amount of stress for students, causing them to either overwork themselves or feeling too overwhelmed to even put in as much effort as they used to.
Students and staff should get a break away from school to destress and maybe work ahead to catch up on tasks that they may be behind on. If one’s way to destress is to go out and spend time with friends, then they should do so, but be mindful of health and safety practices.
Butler Lantern 