From Florida to Frankenmuth, senior TZ Cumbo-Nacheli and her family adventure to an array of places every break. Each time, she cherishes the memories, the relaxation, and the fun that embody each experience.
This year, for mid-winter break, TZ is cruising to the Bahamas; she is thrilled about many things, but especially the change in weather.
“I’m so excited because I just want a little getaway from the cold,” TZ said. “Even though there’s no snow, I just want to get tan again and spend time with my family.”
TZ is not the only one taking advantage of the four-day weekend FHC has scheduled. Some of her other friends choose to travel during school breaks, too. While some might visit other countries and others drive only an hour away, no matter what, this change in scenery is socially accepted as the norm; when there’s a recess, people leave town.
Still, no matter how students choose to spend their time off, school breaks are a great time to rewind, sit back, and let the promise of classless days wash over them. For both students who do and don’t travel, breaks provide extra time to catch up on missing assignments, self-reflect, and, simply, be.
“I think mid-winter break is something irreplaceable,” TZ said. “This time of the year is really stressful with school, especially with seniors getting all of their [college] decisions back, and we have to plan for college. It’s just nice to have a break from school and get time to rest and get caught up on work.”
This year’s mid-winter break is from Friday, Feb. 16 to Monday, Feb. 19. That means FHC students get a complete four days of time off to spend how they’d like. Senior Iman Hammad is planning on spending her break catching up with classes, specifically her Management Foundations dual enrollment class.
“Since I do dual enrollment, I always put off my homework until the weekend because I’m lazy like that,” Iman said. “With the mid-winter break, I can just wake up and finish it all, so I can have a very nice and calm weekend and not worry about if I did this or not.”
Iman sometimes struggles with keeping up in her dual enrollment class. She learns best through physical copies of books and documents, but the class is online, so it takes longer for her to read through everything. This leads her to skim through existing material and seek out other resources, which takes more time to do.
Mid-winter break provides Iman with this needed extra time, especially since it’s four days long. She can let herself study intermittently during the recess period, spending a few hours on her work and then taking a few more to wind down. She believes this routine could be helpful for anyone.
“Don’t waste your time during the break,” Iman said. “If you’re putting [work] off, it’s going to make you feel more stressed later on. I would suggest that on the first day of break, for like three hours, finish what you have or start on it, and then enjoy your break. Don’t stress yourself out about something that you should have gotten done in the beginning.”
One unfortunate thing about mid-winter break is that, for Iman, it can hinder her existing schedule. School gives Iman a set timeframe to get her work done; she goes to school, has homework time afterward, and on weekends, she goes to work. When breaks aren’t in session, Iman’s routine is the same—and that keeps her on track.
So, when there is a school break, Iman finds herself scrambling to plan out each day so that she doesn’t lose her focus. She recognizes that others may struggle with the same.
“Depending on what type of person you are, if you love to have that extra time to relax and have a mental break, then [mid-winter break] is really great for organizing yourself and feeling less tension and stress,” Iman said. “But, if you’re that type of person that follows routines and such, I feel like it might be a little difficult [to enjoy].”
For freshman Nathaniel Calabio, this shift in routine is not too problematic. Like TZ, he often spends breaks with his family visiting other places, like Canada or California. He loves filling the time with shopping, swimming, and long drives. This year, mid-winter break comes up right around his birthday, February 15, and he can’t wait to spend it thrifting in Chicago.
If Nathaniel weren’t heading off to another state, he would still appreciate the time school breaks provide away from the daily drone of fluorescent lights and math lectures. No matter what, he can worry less about getting something done in a time crunch.
“You get to take a break from all the hard work that you do at school,” Nathaniel said. “A lot of projects can be really stressful, and having an extra day or two from break can be really relieving and help to take away a lot of stress that can come from going to school and having to do all this work every day.”
This year, FHC’s administration has extended the mid-winter break to be four days long instead of its usual three. Nathaniel is grateful for the extra day off, but Iman believes that the longer the break, the more she struggles with class upon returning to school. For her, it’s easy to forget lessons during recess because she isn’t constantly thinking about the material.
Still, Nathaniel, TZ, and Iman all acknowledge that the break comes at a great time.
“It’s nice to get a small break in between winter break and spring break,” Nathaniel said. “It’s been a while since we had any type of break, and I can definitely feel the stress getting to me.”
In the end, these three FHC students, and likely many others, have a deep appreciation for the upcoming mid-winter break. Though Iman and TZ are graduating, they both agree that FHC should keep this four-day recess in upcoming years for future classes to enjoy.
“I won’t be here, but I definitely think we should have a mid-winter break for [other students] to organize themselves, catch up on some homework, and stuff like that,” Iman said. “I feel like everyone deserves a break sometimes, and when we all take a break together, it allows us to reconnect ourselves and develop a deeper peace within us.”
