HutchCC cancels spring break, moves graduation up

By Jolene Moore / Staff Writer

Spring Break is the space of time in the last week of March that gives students the opportunity to relax from the everyday flow of school when approaching graduation season.

Many people spend their breaks on beaches, mountains, or in bed staying up until 3 a.m. and sleeping in until noon.

The 2021 spring break will look to be a little bit different at Hutchinson Community College, because the school will not have the usual break. At the Sept. 10 Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously voted to cancel spring break, due to COVID-19 concerns.

As such, graduation has been moved up a week to Friday, April 30. Final examinations for in-person classes will be the last week of April.

That leaves some students, such as Elisa Workman, a Buhler High School senior who splits her time between on-campus classes and high school classes, happy for this decision.

“I’m not upset about it, due to the risk of having a spring break in the first place,” Workman said. “By moving graduation forward, it doesn’t lengthen the school year, and gives students the chance to be over earlier. My mom is going through chemo, and I would be uncomfortable knowing that everyone was given the opportunity to travel and party. It’s understandable that the loss of a spring break is annoying, but it’s what is needed.”

Workman will be taking the opportunity of a longer summer to spend time with family.

Payton McAllister, a Hutchinson freshman, agrees with Workman.

“I think that it’s a good thing to not have the Spring Break, mostly because it gets us out of school quicker and we can have a longer summer,” Workman said.

Usually, a summer would range for about two months, but with a quicker graduation, the students at HutchCC will be receiving close to a three-and-a-half months summer vacation. But some students like Cooper Self, a Hutchinson sophomore, was upset when hearing the news of no Spring Break.

“To me, I’m a little disappointed,” Self said. “Last year, my girlfriend and I went to Gulf Shores, Alabama with some friends, and that was a bunch of fun. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do something like that again this year.”

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