College can be fun and exciting, but juggling a heavy workload can get stressful very quickly.
The further students get into the semester, the more work there is to do. Assignments and looming deadlines can pile up quickly, leaving little time for outside commitments, hobbies, friends and self-care.
Fortunately, Mohawk offers a reprieve about halfway through the semester – reading week.
This year’s reading week came a week earlier than usual, coinciding with several holidays, including Thanksgiving and Sukkot. Holiday periods are a popular time for students to leave campus and spend time with friends or family who they might not have time to see over a weekend. Having a full week away from classes gives them plenty of time to enjoy their turkey dinners and catch up on missed assignments.
Mohawk student Kelly Marais said she was thankful for the time she was able to spend catching up with family.
“I didn’t think it was too early,” Marais said. “It lined up nicely with Thanksgiving. I got to spend my reading week with my family, it was very nice.”
However, not all students were fans of the earlier break. Some expressed concerns over having a longer second half of their semester.
“I believe it’ll make my semester more stressful,” Curtis Heintzman said. “I have a lot to do this semester already, and now I have a larger chunk of time with no more breaks to constantly hand stuff in.”
Having a reading week exactly in the middle of a semester could balance student workloads, making the semester less stressful. But not all programs are built the same.
Some programs are busy at the beginning of the semester, but have fewer assignments at the end. Other programs start off light but become busier later on. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
While most programs at Mohawk observe reading week, a select few students didn’t get a break from their classes at all. Nathaniel Marcus is one of them.
“When I heard my friends talk about their reading week, I was a little bit envious,” Marcus said. “If I had one, I would be using it to catch up on my studying. It’s not the end of the world, though.”
.
English