Students worry upcoming wellbeing days won’t be enough

ISU students need of a break from the demand of college, but they are worried the mental health days will not give them enough time to recuperate.

Students and faculty members typically take their annual spring break to have fun, travel and relax halfway through the semester.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and state official recommendations, ISU decided to cancel the regular spring break. Two Personal Wellbeing Days, on Tuesday and Wednesday will replace the regular weeklong break and provide the ISU community with time devoted to mental health and well-being. Additionally, on April 29 and 30, ISU will hold two Reading Days devoted to final exam preparation.

“I sincerely appreciate your understanding and flexibility as we have worked together as a Redbird family to adapt to and cope with the disruption and uncertainties created by the global pandemic,” President Dietz wrote in December 2020. “Thank you for your diligence in remaining vigilant in the fight against COVID-19 and for continuing to follow all public health and safety guidance.”

While the University is taking active precautions to prevent an outbreak of the virus, many students are dissatisfied with the decision and feel as if they will not be given enough time to rest.

“It’s not the same as spring break. I feel like students are not going to be as focused as they would if they were to have time to go out and travel and then come back,” accounting student Jatori Barker said. “It’s going to be difficult focusing on school.”

Barker went on to say that she believes students’ focus will go down because a regular spring break helped her to have time to focus on herself and her mental health for a good amount of time, and she feels like the rest of this semester will be rough.

“My books will be closed because I need a break. With my major being accounting, I take a lot of courses that deal with math. It’s just a lot to take in at once,” Barker said. “I probably won’t be doing anything school related during the break.”

At this point in the semester, students and professors are overwhelmed by the pandemic and the lack of social interaction on top of managing their time and coursework.

Nursing student Alyssa Baxter said, “It’s really frustrating because I think the best part about spring break is that it’s five days in a row, and it’s really nice to have all those days to do whatever you want, and it’s not spread out.”

Baxter and her classmate, nursing student Hayden Hurst, said that they are excited for the break, even if it is shorter than a typical spring break, because of the stress they currently face due to the amount of work on their plates. They plan to sleep and visit friends while on their break.

“I’m really frustrated too because usually every year on spring break, my family and I go on vacation. I don’t’ get a lot of time with my family because I’m here and it’s busy,” Hurst said. “But now that they gave us a Tuesday and a Wednesday off, you can’t do anything with that. Otherwise, you’re missing Monday classes.”

Business Administration student Mitchell Canales said that he plans to also stay away from schoolwork and instead play Xbox and piano. On a normal spring break, he said that he would go home and relax with his family.

“It’s disappointing for obvious reasons because we’ve been working,” Canales said. “Online school is not much easier than in person school because you cannot have that connection.”

Canales also said in the future, he thinks ISU should consider keeping both the mental health days and spring break because of the amount of work he and other students have to do, such as reserving one Wednesday each month as a mental health day.

Students need a break due to the pressure of assignments and university responsibilities. The ISU community will not be taking the traditional break, though the Personal Wellbeing Days will serve as a break from the normal rigor of classes.