Break proves lackluster for stranded students
Palm trees, sunny beaches and warm weather were seen by some USU students over spring break. Those who stayed in Logan had a very different experience.
Cody Scott, a junior majoring in English, was unable to leave Logan because of commitments at work.
“I plan on working and reading some books that aren’t textbooks,” he said.
Scott works as a patient account representative at Intermountain Healthcare’s Instacare in Logan. He said he felt fine about staying in Logan since his roommate would be there as well.
“We were thinking about going down to St. George and doing some rock climbing and stuff – it’s supposed to be 70 degrees down there this week,” he said. “That would be where I would like to be.”
Hannah Butler, a freshman majoring in deaf education and native of North Carolina, had to stay in Logan in order to gain in-state residency.
“Hopefully we’ll find some stuff to do,” she said, “I’m pretty sure a lot of stuff will be closed on campus, so it will just sort of be dead here. It might be kind of nice to be here all alone without a lot of people.”
When the break ended, Butler said her spring break was pretty boring and she didn’t get to do a lot of the stuff she had planned on doing.
“We were planning on going to the hot springs – stuff like mini road trips – but we didn’t end up doing any of that,” she said. “It was nice weather so we spent some time outside. It was kind of nice and quiet. It was fun, just a lot of hanging out and not having to worry about school.”
Melissa Meze, a freshman majoring in deaf education, stayed in Logan for a portion of spring break. Melissa is on the committee for a service group called Alternative Breaks. The group planned to go to Hawaii for spring break. Melissa wasn’t able to go on the trip but still helped plan and kept a positive attitude about staying.
“I was kind of bummed to not be able to go this year,” she said. “They did a lot of great service and there were a lot of educational opportunities, like seeing Pearl Harbor and going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. There was a lot of good work that was going on in Hawaii, but I still had fun in Logan.”
Meze stayed for the first half of spring break and spent time with people who stayed.
“We did a lot of hikes around Logan,” she said. “We went up the Wind Caves, which was really fun to see the seasons changing and the snow melting. We just took advantage of the warm weather. It was really calm on campus. I went to a basketball game though. It kind of sucked though since it was against my hometown, but it was a really fun game. It was fun to do the Scotsman and join in school pride for one last time.”
Meze plans to return to Texas for the rest of her college education.
Although campus seemed quiet to those who stayed, there were activities available to students. The Outdoor Recreation Program had a rock climbing trip and a mountain biking trip during the break. The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art had “Ideas: An Exhibition” for students who wanted to see the history and ideas for conceptual art. There was a fly fishing film tour March 15 in the TSC and a 5K run on March 16.
– crabi_abi9@comcast.net