Throughout the halls in the week leading up to break, the various cries of students seem to follow one common wish: winter break needs to be longer.

Personally, my break is spent surrounded by family and our holiday traditions. As nice as it is to see my family, the chaos and preparation that goes into the holiday can sometimes be overwhelming, and sometimes those days spent alone getting things done are what is truly needed to fully recharge.

At a school as academically challenging as South, sometimes it’s hard for students to keep their heads above water. Having our break start the day before Christmas Eve and end right after New Year’s Day eliminates a bunch of those days before and after the holidays that are needed to recharge.

When looking at the structure of other schools, it seems that students with longer breaks are better rounded and return to school more eager to learn.

Personally, the more time I spend away from school, the more motivated I am going back, and I feel that many others could say the same thing.

When we look at the way college students structure their breaks, it seems that they have time to get jobs, work on self improvement and possibly improve their organizational skills, all things that South students would benefit from.

That being said, we do have a required amount of days, and I also think that students benefit from mid-winter break. The holiday season is sacred to so many families, so the importance of giving us more time over this break outweighs the other options.

December, one of the coldest months, especially here in Michigan, makes it hard for students to think about anything other than school work, which in one way is good but in another does not reflect well on their mental health. I watch my friends and fellow students’ moods decrease right before winter break, which makes the break all more important.