My home is in eastern Virginia, roughly a ten-hour drive from Houghton. Each year, I must decide whether or not to make the exhausting trip down for October break, caught between the desire to be home with family and the realization that even if I leave Wednesday and return the following Sunday afternoon, I will have only three days in Virginia and a hefty gas bill. While staying on campus isn’t an utterly deplorable idea, the fact is, a vast majority of students are able to and do go home during this break, leaving Houghton a ghost town, as some students have called it.
According to enrollment statistics for the 2012/2013 academic year, 400 students attending Houghton came from out-of-state. Roughly 303 of those students lived in the Northeast as well as nearby states such as West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio, places which would require a drive of around ten hours at the higher end, although this is not true in all cases. This 29.2% of the student body would have the option to go home for a decent break without feeling guilty for doing so if the school year began a bit earlier.
Say we started classes just three days earlier in the school year, which would have been August 28 this year. If this were done, October break could easily be extended to a full week and the number of classes wouldn’t be any fewer; three days for three days. In this situation, I believe a large number of students who live the awkward distance of about four to ten or so hours away from the college would readily head home and be justified in doing so. Currently, I do go home for the three days I’m allotted and stop at a gas station at least once each way to fill up, straining my already minimal income; however, if I were to go home for a week, I would hardly think twice about the cost since the eight or nine days at home (which includes the weekend) would more than make up for it. Likewise, I think there are more than a few who would agree with me.
Other schools have recognized a similar need from their students. Within the past few years, Yale College has realized the need for an October break in general, saying on its website, “It has long been a concern at Yale that, particularly for freshmen, the unbroken period of 11 or 12 weeks of classes between the start of the fall semester and the Thanksgiving recess can be challenging.” Thus, a five-day break from Wednesday to Sunday was introduced in 2011. While Houghton already does have an October break established, I believe the logic does apply to extending ours to a full week. When out-of-state students have to travel long distances to get home or when they must stay on campus and face potential boredom, the four days can seem like not much of a break at all.
Some have questioned this type of proposal, referencing athletic pre-seasons, summer jobs, and study-abroad programs which may run into mid-August as potential deterrents to starting back earlier. However, I believe if enough students are willing to begin the year a few days or even a week earlier despite possible complications, the administration may be willing to listen. The Calendar Committee is the body that decides the dates and lengths for breaks. If you want to influence this policy, you could start by contacting your student Academic Council representatives, Miriam Harms and Jonathan Hardy, asking them to share your views with this committee.
When asked if she would go home for October break if it were a full week, Katrina Sawyer, a senior from Bronx, New York, which is a six-hour drive away, said, “Is that even a question? Of course!”