Rest and Relaxation!

STATE COLLEGE, Pa– Spring break is a high point for Penn State students. It is the only time during the second semester that the students get a break.

The 2022 Spring break is the first time since 2019 that we are getting an uninterrupted break. It is a return to form. Penn State students tend to venture down south for the break. Everyone has a different expectation and reason for this break.

Charlotte Reed is a recent Penn State graduate. She majored in management information systems. She currently resides in State College, PA and works for Boeing. “I am a Boeing procurement agent. I order parts for airplanes. It is currently remote but will be hybrid in a few months. I’ll be moving to Seattle over the summer,” Reed said.

Reed is going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her friend Leah Wang. “I wanted to go to Florida since I have not been anywhere in a long time and wanted to feel warmth again,” Reed said. Reed did not do anything for the 2020 spring break. “I knew covid was coming from my international business classes we had been studying it a lot so I decided to not go anywhere in order to not be stuck,” Reed said.

Reed wishes Penn State had a 2021 spring break. She explained how she was not a fan of the wellness days and it would have been nice to have a week off. “We get so many weeks off in the fall, you’d think we would get a week for the spring,” Reed said.

Madison Borkovich is a friend of Reed’s. She is a fourth-year student. She is pursuing two majors in Human-Centered Design and Development and Film Production.

Similar to Reed, Borkovich detested the wellness days. “I wish the school year would have just ended earlier, as that would have been more impactful,” Borkovich said. Borkovich is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and during the 2020 spring break, she stayed at home.

Borkovich is going to New York City for her spring break. She wishes she could go to Hawaii and hopes to go in May. She could not pass up the opportunity to go to The Big Apple. “I am able to go on the trip for free and with some of my favorite people, so the decision was a no-brainer,” Borkovich said.

Aadit Ranjan is an international fourth-year student majoring in computer science. Unlike most, Ranjan will be staying at State College for spring break. He hopes to use this time to catch up on his school work and work on some personal projects.

Ranjan felt that the wellness days in 2021 were essentially half a spring break. “I would have liked a full Spring break or longer in order to deal with the burnout that accompanies a wholly online learning experience,” Ranjan said.

Delores Allen is a third-year student majoring in neuroscience. She spent her 2020 spring break at home. “I didn’t do anything except watch TikTok videos. The pandemic impacted it a lot because I was not allowed to work and there were curfews that my town had to follow so I could not go out much,” Allen said. Allen is from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Similar to everyone else, Allen was not a fan of the wellness days. She felt that the wellness days were a waste of time and did not help her. She will be going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her friends for spring break. “My friends and I wanted to do something for the week besides going home, so we decided to get an Airbnb in Pittsburgh for the week,” Allen said. If she could pick any other place to go, it would be California.

Dulce Gonzalez is a friend of Allen’s. She is also a third-year student. She is majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology.

Gonzalez explained how she does not do much for her spring breaks. She plans on going home to Norristown, Pennsylvania. “I am spending time with my family and going to the Tyler, the Creator concert at the Wells Fargo Center. I do plan on using this week as a complete rest period to alleviate the stress I have from this semester,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez did not mind the wellness days. “I really wished that we had more wellness days or wellness days that occurred before or after the weekend. I was feeling a lot of burnout and my mental health was suffering from not having any sort of actual break,” Gonzalez said.

All of these people love spring break. Gonzalez, Allen, and Ranjan like the rest period. Borkovich likes having something to look forward to and push towards. Reed sums it up best. “I think having a break mid-semester is nice because it allows you to reset yourself and get out of a funk if you are in one,” Reed said.