OUR VIEW: Take advantage of this Christmas break

It’s about time isn’t it? Christmas Break will be here in about a week. Some students get to leave a bit earlier. It all depends on finals. This is a well-deserved break.

Students have worked long hours and gotten through assignments, exams, dissertations, SI’s, labs and essays. Imagine each week, every student on campus has one test, is in class for 150 minutes and is currently taking 15 credits.

Do the math and one will see there is an approximate total of 275,648 tests; 258,420 credits; and 689,120 hours of class. Even if one subtracts one missed class for each student, that’s still a whopping 671,892 hours spent listening to lectures, taking notes and yes, even a little flirting.

Here’s the understatement of the semester: Students do a lot of work.

So enjoy vacation. Don’t let finals leave a sour taste to last through Christmas Break. Next semester gives students the chance to turn over the proverbial new leaf. They can start anew.

Make some goals to progress. College is meant to make students stretch. Responding to the rigorous challenges of student life causes students to learn and grow in ways they never knew they could.

Here’s another idea. Why not take a class next semester in a completely different discipline? Think about it. One day, some first-grader will ask how planes fly. An elementary education major could benefit immensely from the course Flight Principles.

Moreover, at least one course in business, history, nursing, music, sociology, or even lactation of animals can make a person more well-rounded. Don’t fear courses from other disciplines, embrace them. Make next semester really count toward learning.