Editorial: Spring break

While the semester is now about half gone and the mid-term grades have been posted, it’s important to remember that we still have roughly two more months to go.

We know that with spring break being next week, many students see an opportunity to catch up on some sleep and some dearly missed TV shows. While those goals aren’t necessarily bad, we at The Pacer see a different sort of opportunity.

We know students have heard this suggestion from professors before, but it bears repeating. Spring break is the perfect time to get ahead on work for classes. We realize that students may have trips and other activities planned for this week free from classes, but even with planned activities students should still have a few spare hours to spend with textbooks and notes.

Spring break comes as a welcome reprieve from several long weeks spent in the classroom. It also relieves the stress of long days spent with eyes trained on a book or a computer screen in the pursuit of keeping up with course material; relax and take a breather before plunging back into the pile of stuff on your to-do list.

However, taking a breather does not have to mean being unproductive. Counting the two weekends, there are a total of nine days and 216 hours in UTM’s spring break. 10 or 15 of those hours are not an absurd amount to spend getting a head start on upcoming projects.

We at The Pacer also know that when spring break rolls around, we are usually exhausted and need a rest. Don’t let that become an excuse for laziness. Give yourself time to relax and goof off, but give yourself reasonable goals and rewards for accomplishing them.

It’s hard to buckle down and work on long-term projects over what is supposed to be a time-out from campus life. That’s why setting achievable goals for every single day will ensure you remain on track and get your work done.

We hate the crushing feeling of regret when something we could have done earlier would have prevented trouble later on. Let’s all come back to school without that feeling.   
Overall, use this time for replenishment. The second half of the semester will go much more smoothly if you are properly rested in mind, spirit and body. Use spring break as just that: a break. Do yourself a favor and get some rest while you continue to work on projects for classes. Sleep late; eat well; do something fun you’ve been putting off; take the opportunity to get out of the house. Just don’t forget to hit it full force when school is back in session.