By Will Poladian, Contributing Writer
With COVID-19 still an issue in the world, St. Bonaventure University decided to change the original spring semester calendar. A press release released on Oct. 15, 2020, by Dr. Dennis DePerro, President of St. Bonaventure University, addressed the change.
“Because of the need to control travel again to mitigate the spread of the virus, spring break needed to be eliminated,” said DePerro.
This desire to restrict the movement of students led to alterations in the original schedule.
“Like everyone, I was hopeful that only the fall semester would be impacted by the pandemic, but it’s clear that we need to stay vigilant through the spring. Once again that requires an alteration to the academic calendar,” said DePerro.
While the larger breaks have been eliminated, there will be some days off throughout the semester instead of spring break.
“Five class-free weekdays have been scheduled throughout the semester: Feb. 18, March 10, April 2 [Good Friday], April 13 and April 28,” said DePerro.
An additional part of the plan is to continue in person until the final day of classes on May 7.
Some students are frustrated about their spring break being taken away.
“Not having spring break is tough because it causes students to burn out faster,” said Nick Saia, a freshman finance major.
There is feelings that these days off will not have much effect.
“These random, scattered days off, will not do much for the students,” said James Rumschlag, a freshman history major. “I feel that we should have every Friday off during Lent.”
For many students, spring break remains an important part of the school year as a whole.
“Spring break is crucial to a student because it allows them to go back and refresh, but also allows them to come back in a working mood,” said Saia.
Some students believe that spring break is very helpful to the student community, as a restorative period.
“Spring Break helps students to unwind and take a break from the stress of school and campus life,” said Rumschlag.
Despite these sentiments, several students believe that the university may not need a spring break at all.
“Honestly, I’ll take what I can get. College is about working, so taking breaks isn’t something we should expect,” said Ryan Connolly, a freshman undeclared major.
Connolly also believes that because students are in college, they need to be somewhat tough about the situation. Students cannot expect to be given breaks.Still, some students hope that the school will not stick with this schedule when things are all said-and-done.
“I want and predict that the university will go back to a normal spring break once COVID-19 comes to an end,” said Saia.
Connolly also believes that the university will go back to the original formatting of spring break once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. DePerro remains confident, however, about the situation.
“We’ve been able to teach the vast majority of classes in person. We’ve been able to offer a normal dining experience. We’ve offered a wide variety of creative student programming. Most important, we’ve been able to keep our doors open when so many colleges have had to shut down and send their students home to an online-only environment,” said DePerro. “I know this isn’t easy, but we’ve done this once and I know we can do it again.”
