Students playing spikeball, eating crepes on picnic blankets and watching the sunset—with students oblivious to the campus lockdown just days away, the air at Duke just felt different during the recent days off class.
Last semester, Duke Student Government received many complaints that students were overworked and because there were no adequate breaks, they didn’t get any time to themselves. To resolve this, DSG advocated for a two-day break March 9 and 10 as well as a “wellness day” April 12.
Many students like first-year Austin Phillips took the time off last week to focus on themselves. Phillips played ultimate frisbee, video games and went on walks.
Others decided to venture off-campus and see more of Durham. Reah Syed, a first-year, went to South Point Mall and nearby stores with her friends.
Hiking was a hit over the break as well. Priscilla La, a first-year, went to Eno River State Park.
Some students opted for more relaxing days where they could catch up on sleep. First-year Sabina Yampolsky decided to sleep in and hang out with her friends.
However, some students had schoolwork to complete over the break.
Phillips still had the stress of upcoming assignments in the back of his mind and had to “try and be proactive in doing work.”
Syed said a lot of her friends were busy studying for midterms for the end of the week.
“I was free, but unfortunately wasn’t able to do that much since my friends had to still study” she said.
La and Cronk both agreed that having to do work for their classes was either a “hit or miss.”
They decided to take Tuesday off and then work on Wednesday. Cronk had to finish a Spanish essay due Thursday morning, and La had to work “extra hard” to catch up on Wednesday.
Students who took both break days off found that they had more work to catch up on over the weekend, adding stress to the end of the week.
“The wellness days felt like an excuse to procrastinate on work we have to do for next week,” Yampolsky said.
Not everyone had to catch up on work, though. First-year Rachel Chen was able to enjoy both days without stressing about upcoming work.
“I think the wellness days were definitely appreciated by most of my friends and me,” she said.
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