Winter break is the highlight of many students’ year. It’s a time to celebrate holidays with friends and family, relax and the biggest thing: no school. For the last three years, students have returned to school the Thursday and Friday after break. This year was different, with students having two complete weeks off. Students came back to a full five-day week, with no days to adjust to the rigid schedule of school.
Sophomore Griffin Hanson said having the two extra days off was helpful. He said it gave students extra time that wasn’t consumed by the holidays and gave travelers more time to adjust.
“(Having a longer break) was very beneficial. It gave more time to do activities out of the holidays,” Hanson said. “(It) also gave more time for travel and travelers to leave and get back.”
According to junior Kylie Kaiser, the extra time off allowed her to get more sleep. She said it was a good time to work on assignments that she needed to catch up on.
“I liked having more time to catch up on sleep,” Kaiser said. “And a lot of teachers gave extra credit assignments that I was able to work on.”
English teacher Kelsey Hanson said having a day or two before a full week to adjust would have its benefits. She said coming back after break isn’t just an adjustment for the students, it’s also an adjustment for the teachers.
“(Coming back for a few days) would be beneficial. My husband is a teacher and his school district does a PD (professional development) day so it’s just teachers back and they can make all their copies or whatever because it’s an adjustment for the teachers too,” Hanson said.
Griffin Hanson said he tries to start to adjust before he gets back to school. He said he makes changes to his sleep schedule to make the change easier.
“Usually a couple of days before break, I’ll just start waking up a little earlier to try to get back into the rhythm of things, as well as going to bed earlier,” Hanson said.
Kelsey Hanson said some of her students tried to avoid work and wanted to have a slow ease back into school. She said some of her students are not fully back from the break mentality.
“This past Monday, there were a few students that were like, ‘Oh, I’m not doing it today. I’m not ready,” Hanson said. “Students are really tired because everyone’s sleep schedule gets adjusted on those two weeks off. Some students aren’t physically back from break. So I do think it takes a couple of days before really hitting the ground running.”
According to Kaiser, it’s difficult to come back to school and stay focused. She said she would consider having finals before the break to eliminate the stress when students come back.
“It’s hard to stay focused because I just want to be done with the semester,” Kaiser said. “Ending the semester before would be nice because then you can have your break and not have to worry about upcoming finals when you come back.”
Kelsey Hanson said before winter break would be a good time to end the semester and have finals week.
“I say all the time that I wish that the end of the semester lined up with winter break,” Hanson said. “It just feels like such a natural break to the year it seems like a good time to stop.”