Spring break, which started in the 1930’s, has been a holiday for students and teachers alike for nearly a century now. This academic tradition is celebrated in various countries around the world, most commonly in western countries.

With spring break quickly approaching on Monday, April 10th, for students attending Millennium Brooklyn High School, one could imagine that students begin to look forward to releasing the stress that that has been building up all year.

As cultureandyouth.org notes, during spring break, “students are expected to take a break from studies as a way to recharge for the rest of the academic year. Many students choose to travel away from campus, either back to their home or to a number of popular locations throughout the world.” From raging parties, to hanging out with friends, to simply enjoying each day like summer vacation, spring break in many ways has formed a reputation as a period of pure enjoyment and irresponsibility.

In reality, the responsibilities that both students and teachers have in their life often cannot be dropped or even halted for spring break. Christian Madrigal, a senior attending Millennium Brooklyn High School, shared what she planned to do during this spring break, and with this, shared her concerns regarding responsibilities such as assignments.

“During spring break I’m mostly going to be working. If we have break homework I’m going to have to do that. I feel like we shouldn’t have break homework because it’s a break and everybody doesn’t do their homework until Sunday (the last day of spring break) anyway.” She continued on. “It’s just piling a lot of work on us, even though we should be spacing out, it’s kind of unnecessary. If I was going away like I did last break, then I would be really upset that I have assignments to finish like essays.”

After gaining this viewpoint on what spring break means for one student at Millennium Brooklyn High School, it became apparent that spring break activities really differed depending on person. Wanting to gain more insight of a common spring break for a student at an academically rigorous school such as Millennium Brooklyn High School, I spoke with an anonymous senior.

“During spring break I’m probably going to hangout with my friends, go to a few parties. Of course, I’m going to be going to my every-day job and taking care of my responsibilities, but I’ll still be having a lot of fun.  I then asked this senior their opinion on the receiving assignments that must be completed during spring break.

“I’m not doing homework or classroom assignments until the last day. I think it’s [bologna]. Excuse my language, but I don’t think we should be getting school work when we’re on vacation, that’s just dumb; it’s the opposite of what it’s supposed to be.” Like Christian, this student also has academic stresses that they needs to focus on and take responsibility for, despite these exciting days coming up.

After speaking with these two students and learning about what they had planned for spring break, I wanted to get another perspective on the spring break activities planned for not a student, but a teacher. Ms. Feinstein, a 12th grade economics teacher stated that for her, spring break is about being able to relax in some ways, but having time to grade-work as well.

“Well, spring break is Passover, so I’m going to Long Island to see my family and to do family things, but with this, I’ll probably do a lot of grading. I could take a break from this but then when I came back I’d be crazy stressed and overwhelmed with all the grading I would have to do, so I don’t,” stated Feinstein.

Despite the reputation that spring break gets, I learned that the perception of partying and dropping responsibilities wasn’t all that common.

Even with these responsibilities, students still seem happy when they hear about spring break and how quickly the event is approaching. Natalia Skilladz, another senior attending Millennium Brooklyn High School, shared her excitement for the upcoming period.

“I’m pretty excited for spring break. A lot of spring break is going to be relaxing and sleeping, and a lot of it is also going to be going out and having fun. Either way, I’ll be having a good time. I really can’t wait.”