Originally Published in the March 21st Print Publication
Bleak, grey clouds line the horizon every morning as another sunless day begins. The occasional afternoon shower leaves unsuspecting students drenched and running home. That’s a typical Western Washington March day, a month without any breaks, long weekends, or important holidays.
As noted by most residents of the Greater Seattle area, spring is usually not the most pleasant of seasons. Rain turns the soil to mud, and the sun sets at approximately 5pm each night. Washington is like Africa, there is the dry season ranging from around late June to late September (during a particularly lucky year), and there is the rainy season, which stretches across the remaining months.
Adding to the dreariness of March is a lack of breaks of major holidays. There are no long weekends or weeks off, and the slog between mid-winter break and spring break is almost comparable to the breakless two months of September and October.
Though the school and district are not at fault when it comes to the utter lack of holidays during March, the district ought to offset that by adding breaks or even moving spring break into March. After all, with spring break being set in the middle of April, most students spend it studying for upcoming AP exams in early May. If so, that defeats the purpose of having a break. A break is meant for students to rest and recharge for coming events at school, not slog away 24/7 for an exam. Moving spring break to mid-to-late March would give students some time to relax right before diving into AP-review and time to recharge during March.
Lastly, with the switching of seasons and the onset of spring, many students end up sick or come down with allergies. I myself experienced a bout of pneumonia during the end of February and beginning of March that rendered me a coughing and cough-drop-dependent mess. I have also seen other students and teachers rub their noses or eyes again and again due to pollen or plant allergies. Early spring is an interesting time of year, and yet not exactly pleasant for all. Thus, moving spring break to earlier in the season makes sense, in both the respect of combating illnesses/allergies and resting before exams.
