Andrew Fahman (’19) checks his planner’s calendar. Photo by Edward Fahmanby Brandon Nguyen, Staff Writer & Photographer
With winter break over and finals to look forward to, many students eagerly await the next major break: spring break. However, even with spring break on the horizon, many students are voicing some concerns over the uneven distribution of breaks and holidays throughout the year.
“First semester has too many days off compared to second semester, and the no break period at the beginning of second semester is pretty tough,” said Daniel Ahn (’16). “A lot of my [Academic Decathlon] competition stuff falls during that time period and having no breaks makes it worse. Having school for three months straight is tiring”
The school year has four major breaks as well as a few holidays in between. Thanksgiving break begins at the end of November with winter break merely three weeks away. Then, Barons have to wait about three months for spring break at the end of March. After spring break, Barons can expect a longer period of almost three months away from school with summer break. However, the way that the breaks have been scheduled presents a period of about three months between winter and spring break.
According to Paul Tinkl (’17), a foregin exchange student from Germany, the way FVHS decides to schedule their holiday breaks is very different from the way that breaks in Germany work.
“In Germany we have more breaks, but our summer break is much shorter. It’s about six weeks,” said Tinkl. “I prefer more breaks because it’s really exhausting having school for several months straight.”
Ahn proposes adjustments to the way that breaks are scheduled in order to fix what he believes to be a potentially flawed system.
“Spring break should be pushed back to the end of April and another break should be added at the end of February or beginning of March. We could also extend the school year by a week,” said Ahn.
However, there are other opinions on the topic of whether or not the timing of the breaks should change.
“Through the eyes of a student, we wish it could be longer, but hopefully we know that this would jeopardize our learning,” said Ly Nguyen (’19).
When asked about how he would change the schedule, Nguyen stated that he would avoid making any drastic changes.
