You slowly lower your pencil as you think to yourself “It’s finally over.” You have turned in all of your research papers, given all of your group presentations, and you have now finished all of those nasty cumulative final exams.
Let me be the first to congratulate you: you’re now officially on winter break.
After a few weeks packed full of stress and hard work, it’s good for students to use some of this time to just relax. According to the ChildLine National Exam Stress Survey, 96% of students surveyed claimed they felt stress and anxiety from final exams. If you have built up a lot of stress going in to break, try to give yourself a couple days to relax with family and friends.
Winter break is a great time to reconnect with old friends. Many McDaniel students have plans with friends over the break:
Jack Paras, a freshman from R.I., says “I’m really excited; it’s the first time all of my friends will be home from school at the same time”.
“Every winter break my friends and I do a Secret Santa,” says McDaniel sophomore Tyler Utz. “You buy a gag gift for whoever’s name you draw and we exchange them before we go out on New Years Eve”.
“Me and my boys always go out and play some hockey over winter break,” says junior Jackson Balkin, a Buffalo N.Y. native.
“I pretty much spend the first week of break just sleeping,” says sophomore Mike Carlino.
However, after recovering from finals week, it’s important to find something productive to do with all of your free time.
Some students choose to pick up a part time job to make some extra money. Sean Clark, a junior from Wyomissing Pa., spends his break working part-time for a snow removal company. “The hours aren’t great and it’s pretty demanding work, but I love taking all the money I made back to school,” says Clark.
Another cool way to spend your break is to go somewhere you haven’t been before. It really isn’t that difficult or expensive to take a weekend trip. McDaniel senior Corey Schaffer has already made some big plans for break.
“Now that all my buddies and I are 21, we decided we’re going to take a trip to Atlantic City,” Schaffer says.
Students could also have potentially lined up an internship for the winter. An Internship looks great on a resume, gives students vital real-world experience, and allows them to make connections with potential employers. Also, depending on the company, the internship could even be paid.
A final way to limit stress over break is to get your holiday shopping out of the way as soon as possible. Anyone who has had the ‘pleasure’ of last minute gift shopping would probably agree that it is a terrible experience.
It is important to come back to school stress-free, fully rested, and ready to start the new semester.
