The quieter side of spring break

By Victoria Lewis / Staff writer

Far from the infamous, outrageous partying and other tomfoolery that is spring break in places like Florida, some students opt for the quieter side of life, staying in the Hutchinson Community College student housing for the week off.

Sophomore Brandon Hall from Georgia chose to stay in his HutchCC apartment over the break instead of driving back home to Atlanta.

“I didn’t want to drive back 1,000 miles, and is a whole lot of money I don’t have,” Hall said. “I’m leaving at the end of this semester so it wouldn’t make sense to fly home just to fly back in a month.”

He did manage to keep himself occupied with the use of his trusty car, which allowed him to travel to Wichita on a few occasions over the week.

Though, he said he just “stayed in the house, and slept a majority of spring break – hibernation is key.”

Hall said there is a secret to spring break in student housing.

“Find you a gaming buddy who you’re cool with, and find something to do with that person, otherwise you’re gonna be bored in the dorms,” said Hall, speaking of his four teammates left to share his break with.

However, other students who stayed put over spring break didn’t have too much of a choice.

HutchCC student Colin Cymbalista is from Toronto, Canada, and because of baseball commitments was unable to fly home.

“I didn’t have much in terms of expectations while staying here as my schedule didn’t really change outside of school,” he said. “The reality was that it was almost completely empty, as almost everyone was gone.”

Cymbalista passes on words of advice to others who find themselves in the dorms over school breaks.

“If students who are staying over for a break are athletes, I recommend hanging out with teammates, but if not, I’d say try and learn a new skill or hobby over the week because there isn’t a whole lot to do,” Cymbalista said. “Baseball kept me pretty occupied, but all the baseball players hung out together and played video games to pass time.”

To Cymbalista, it was the simpler things that he enjoyed about being at the dorms over break.

“It was kind of nice. No wait for the laundry machines, and everyone got to park super close to our dorms which was really nice,” he said.

Cymbalista’s teammate and Lincoln, Nebraska native, Cooper Wesslund seconded the enjoyment of having first pick of the hotly-contested washers and dryers in the dorms. He said that even though he experienced feelings of loneliness, and was disappointed he couldn’t go home and see his family, “it was nice when having to do laundry.”

Wesslund said there are serious perks to staying in the dorms over spring break.

“The best part was having no school and the parking,” Wesslund said.

Despite being left to fend for themselves, he and the baseball team were well looked after in terms of meals. “We ate a lot of team meals where our coach would take us to either a fast food place or we would go to his own house for a meal,” Wesslund said.

It turns out spring break in the dorms is not all that bad after all, and is definitely an option for future students to consider, who just want a bit of ‘rest and relaxation’ come March next year.

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