Spring semester started off with, in fact, a hitch, as the first two days were delayed and one day altogether out of the four-day week was canceled due to inclement weather. Having this be the welcome from winter break may have proved a challenge for some individuals, but still others embraced the short extension of break to help ease them into the new semester.
“Considering the delayed openings and canceled day, I don’t feel as if it impacted me that much,” one editor said. “I think it helped me ease back into the swing of things and allowed students to get situated and ready for the semester.”
This answer was piggybacked by a different editor, who explained, “Because of my schedule, none of my classes were affected by last week’s delayed opening and Friday’s cancelation. But in general, I think having a snow day and some delays was not a bad thing. It allowed students a buffer week to get reacclimated into school.”
Another editor, however, disagreed and cited the snow days as making their start to the semester a more taxing endeavor. “[The delays and cancelation] definitely made getting into the semester more difficulty because I couldn’t even attend some of my classes, and it put me back into the winter break mindset of doing nothing all day.”
Many students utilize winter break as a crucial time to relax and unwind before the grind of spring semester starts back up again. However, there is the potential for winter break to instead be utilized as a time for students to catch up on credits if they so wish, rather than spend the time preparing for the warmer weather ahead.
“I think [a winter semester] would be something great that the school should offer,” one editor suggested. “Personally, I would not utilize it because I know I need that break in between semesters to regroup, but if students need to make up a few credits and don’t want to do it over the summer, during winter break would be a great option.”
Not taking the school up on a winter semester option was a popular opinion among our editors. A separate editor agreed with the aforementioned and explained, “I personally would not utilize having classes over winter break because I enjoy having a break during the holidays. I also personally don’t need a winter session to complete my degree in time.” Nevertheless, acknowledging potentially different situations of their fellow students was not lost on this editor. “However,” they continued, “having a winter session would definitely be beneficial to those who want to fast track their graduation date or for those who need to make up classes in order to graduate on time.”
Still, another editor thought that a winter semester would not be beneficial at all. “ I don’t think it is necessary for Monmouth to offer winter classes because they offer an extensive summer schedule,” they argued. “Classes run all summer, so I do not believe winter classes would benefit the University.”
Since winter break is much shorter than summer break, there is the question as to whether or not winter break is an ample amount of time between the fall and spring semesters.
“I think the winter break is a perfect length,” an editor said. “It’s not too long or short. It’s a month to relax, maybe work and get some money, and a chance to recharge students’ batteries.”
A second editor agreed with this sentiment. “I honestly think that winter break is the perfect amount of time,” they said. “Having about a month off gives us time to re-set, but not too long to the point where we dread going back. By the time the month is up I feel that most people are ready to return to school.”
Yet another editor contended that break is too short, especially in comparison to other colleges and universities. “I believe Monmouth’s winter break is very short compared to other schools,” they said.
“Students should have a longer winter break in order to relax and rejuvenate before the spring semester.”
Regardless, the editors at “The Outlook” hope that everybody had a restful winter break, and good luck on the upcoming spring semester!