As Spring Break approaches, Cathedral Catholic High School students brew with excitement for the week off. Many students are planning on traveling, resting, going to the beach, or spending time with family and friends.

According to Dr. Messina with Dr. Messina and Associates, “Spring break has shown to be highly beneficial to student’s mental health because this week of vacation allows for a much-needed mental decompression from demanding school-related responsibilities.” It often gets overlooked, but high school students have a lot of responsibilities. School life is nonstop and sometimes a break is needed where students are not spending hours over the weekend on homework; which defeats the purpose of a weekend.

Because stress and anxiety are more commonly reduced during break, the physical body reaps the benefits as well. Being able to spend time outside in the sun and fresh air allows student’s bodies to reset.

Sustaining a strong mental and physical health is very important. With social media, college expectations, racism, and more, our teen society is drowning in stress and anxiety. One in twelve people experience anxiety in their lifetime.

Again, according to Dr. Messina, “Being a student in this day and age is confusing and difficult enough, so offering students the opportunity of having a spring break is a resoundingly positive and beneficial thing in our books.”

But now the question arises of when Spring Break should take place: Around Easter or separated from Easter?

Charlotte Zaun from Bernards High School believes students deserve a consistent schedule. Year after year, the date of Easter changes and if spring break correlates with Easter, our break will as well be inconsistent. One year, spring break may be too close to winter break or ski week, but the next year, it could take place too close to the end of the school year. Zaun believes if school districts calculate the timing of spring break, students will have a balanced span of school days.

In addition, juniors taking the PSAT’s, SATs, and ACTs are preparing in April. They are focused on their second semester and are overloaded with homework while also thinking about college. Freshman are still getting into the groove of high school, and seniors are overwhelmed with the next four years of their lives. In addition to the educational stress, students are dealing with winter and spring sports, musical theater, and other clubs and activities, making the school days from December to April nonstop and overwhelming. They deserve a break that is consistent and allows them to balance this season well.

The other side of the argument is that spring break should be around Easter because of travel. Some families want to spend Easter together but may not live in the same state. If students travel for Easter Sunday, but then have school the next monday, they might have to miss school for travel back home.

Granted, not all schools are religious and celebrate Easter, but there are no other major holidays around this time. Some might say that having spring break around Easter would make it unfair to other religions because they do not get a week off for their holidays. To defend that idea, spring break would occur either way. It just depends on when school districts want to schedule it. By scheduling it near a holiday, that approximately 79% of Americans celebrate, would make travel and scheduling easier.

When talking with Elle Battaglia, from Frisco High School in Frisco, Texas, she expressed annoyance that her school started spring break on March 11. She states, “I felt like I just had winter break. My school battery wasn’t dead yet before I had another week-long break.” She continues to mention how she wished she had her break at the same time as Cathedral.

In my opinion, I think having spring break around Easter is the most beneficial for the majority of students. As a student looking forward to the calendar year, you can expect that your spring break is near Easter. For my friends who have family far away, they can spend the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection with their family, without having to worry about missing school.