By Lakeya Joyner
Spring break is next week for College of Southern Nevada. The date is falling later in the term compared to other colleges and universities but this benefits students with children.
Some students seek out warm weather, beaches and pool parties as they plan their week off from school. Others plan to take the kids to Disneyland Park and SeaWorld San Diego. Although most are excited for this break, some wish spring break came sooner in the term.
Spring break is April 15 to 21, 2019. It is falling at week 13 of the 16-week instructional semester. This comes at the same time as Easter break for Clark County School District students. It means that parents who attend CSN are off at the same time as their children, which makes things easier for most families. Although this benefits parents, some students and professors are not happy with the late date.
CSN Faculty Senate passed its Spring Break Scheduling Policy during summer 2016 according to Dr. Joe Hassert, CSN communication professor. “The main reason that was cited in senate discussions for linking our spring break to CCSD’s was to benefit parents of CCSD children: both faculty and students. The idea was to help these parents with the burden of providing child care during that week.”
Jennifer McGehee, CSN student, is happy to be off next week with her child.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Nevada State College—CSN’s sister schools—had their spring breaks March 18 to 24, according to their websites. CSN falls in mid-April making it much later than the others.
Brande Bourgault, CSN student, said, “I think CSN should do a survey to find out how many students do and don’t have children and determine if the time benefits the majority of teachers and students.”
Rebecca Randall, CSN student, said, “Spring break needs to be in the middle of the semester so we can recuperate from the beginning of the semester. Overall I am not motivated to keep on doing homework and studying after the break so it’s very hard to get good grades.”
Hassert, as a teacher, doesn’t think the late break affects students’ performances. “I have not personally noticed the stress level being much different from fall to spring semester. Also, with many classes assigning major assignments toward the end of the semester, I could even see a late spring break as beneficial—giving extra time to do school work just when it is needed. But again, I am only speculating.”
Professor Kerry Ford, who teaches communication at CSN, would prefer the break to come sooner. “We are on a 16-week schedule and CCSD is on a 20-week schedule; it just makes no sense.”
Once professors and students are back, they will ride the ride to finals week May 13 to 19.
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 