No Spring Break For Rowan Or Stockton Students This Year
In an effort to keep students from traveling to COVID-19 hot spots, most NJ colleges & universities have done away with consecutive days off this semester.
If you take a look at both Rowan's and Stockton's 2021 Academic calendar for the spring semester, you'll notice that days usually scheduled for spring break are missing from this year. Why? According to NJ.com, New Jersey schools are hoping that not scheduling multiple days off in a row will deter students from traveling to popular spring break hot-spots that may result in them bringing the coronavirus back with them.
Apparently, an uptick in coronavirus cases was seen last year after students had come home from various spring break locations. This year, NJ's higher level academia aren't taking any chances.
Rowan University's academic calendar for the spring 2021 semester blatantly says that there will be no spring break this month, while Stockton doesn't list it at all. So, does this mean students won't get any rest this semester? According to Stockton's calendar, that's not the case. NJ.com even contributes to that idea as they revealed many of the state's colleges and universities have chosen to still give time off, but spread the time over the course of the entire semester rather than condense it into one week.
Without consecutive days off, the hope is that students will be discouraged to travel, therefore less at risk of transmitting the disease back to the communities in which they live. The powers-that-be at all the state universities are well aware of the fact that they can't control the situation entirely. Since most classes are still completely virtual, students can simply log onto their classes from wherever they are, whether that be Florida, Mexico, etc. and then return to the fun once they've finished their schoolwork for the day.
Universities hope that the quarantine and course requirements are enough to deter travel, but, of course, some will still seek out the annual spring break parties regardless of the risk.
Sources: Rowan.edu, Stockton.edu, NJ.com