Alex M. Koller and Taylor C. Peterman of the Crimson Writing staff wrote this article based on an interview between student Hayden Teeter and the writing staff. In the interview, Hayden explains that he used the first two wellness days to “relax” and the third one this time he’s going to have to study for his midterm. Safe to say he wasn’t exactly happy about that and so are many students that feel wellness day doesn’t reward us the same feeling that spring break did. The article also mentioned a student, Neil K. Khurana who emailed his professor asking if he could move the assignment that was due because it fell on a wellness day and the professor still declined. This got me thinking about it, and I wonder what do you think Penn State can do in the future to help give us a little bit of our spring break back?.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/16/students-unhappy-with-wellness-days/
I agree with this article entirely. College students stress and anxiety rate has sky-rocketed this academic year and giving us less breaks only makes it worse. “Three out of four students reported having experienced at least one stressful life event in the last year,” (Harvard Medicine). On the three wellness days Penn State has had, I have had at least one assignment due and the most recent wellness day I spent studying for an exam I had at 8am the next morning. I understand why colleges have cancelled spring break, but I do think there could have been better ways to put not only our physical health first but also our mental health.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/college-stress
The article I linked below by Harvard Medicine covers some rates and statistics on college students stress levels over the past year. Personally, I found these to be alarming and I fully believe that university staff has been under a similar amount of stress.
Personally the only problem I had with wellness days is the fact that they were in middle of the week. I would’ve preferred that they were given on a Friday or Monday for a long weekend. Having a wellness day mid week feels worst then not having a day off at all because it just seems so pointless. Professors chose not to give work on said wellness days but that didn’t help with the backlog of assignments I had to complete. The semesters can get very taxing especially after third year where the majority of classes tend to be specialized and higher level. Not having that week long break has taken a toll on me personally and being locked up inside also certainly does not help. As seen from my peers and multiple articles most people seem to agree with me that the way Wellness days occurred this semester simply don’t cut it.
References:
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/opinion/columnists/wellness-days-are-a-useless-part-of-the-spring-semester-column/article_1daf938a-9812-11eb-8505-030a14f1a009.html
https://theyellowjacket.org/students-voice-opinions-on-wellness-days/
I completely agree that wellness days are simply not enough. There are so many examples and testimonials from students across the country going to universities with this system in place and even the people that I talk to. Memes are made poking fun at how badly the wellness days actually “help” as daily free press put it “It felt like a tease” to make matters worse, in order to implement this system, spring break was removed all together. It’s my personal opinion that if spring break and wellness days were used together in conjunction it would not feel nearly as much of a ripoff. One day just simply not enough, because the entire day is spent knowing that this one brief day is being loomed over by more work following the next. I feel like I am able to speak for many when I say that wellness days are a lousy excuse for a break for our mental health. Most of these days are spent catching up on work that was assigned to us earlier that week that is due the next day.
https://dailyfreepress.com/2021/03/25/editorial-wellness-day-did-not-go-well/
I completely agree that wellness days don’t provide enough relief for students. In my opinion one wellness day a month doesn’t work. It’s no where close to the mental health break that we as college students need in order to not completely burn out. Implementing three semi-random days during the spring semester when students do not have any classes, but will still have classwork due that week, does not provide any type of a break at all. In the article I found, I really resonated with this quote “I don’t really see a difference between wellness days and weekends, I’ll just be working on piles of homework like any other Saturday or Sunday.” I was disappointed with Penn State when I found out their plan – i completely understand that they don’t want us to travel – but there could’ve been better measures taken to give us some type of stress relief. For example, this could’ve been making a program specifically this semester for mental wellness and hosting meditation or yoga over zoom. They need to implement some type of release or else we’re just going to burn out. I hope they can learn from the feedback they’ve been given this year and if it’s needed again next year for some reason it will be done right.
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2021/02/wellness-days-ineffective-column
I feel that three wellness days are not comparable to a spring break at all and that they are a complete joke. When I found out that we weren’t having a spring break this year I was very disappointed because spring break is a week were I do not have to worry about school at all and can relax and enjoy time with my friends and family. After I found out about no spring break they introduced the idea of having three wellness days spread out through the second semester. I liked this idea at first because in the email it said that during these wellness days students would not have to worry about studying, homework, exams, projects, etc. Even though there was no spring break I thought that these wellness days would be a decent substitute. Then, the wellness days came and I found out that these wellness days were not breaks at all. During the two wellness days we have had this year, I have had to either study or do homework on both of those days. I am disappointed that these wellness days were not taken more seriously this year an I hope if they have to implement them again in the future, that they try to make them more like how they described them before the school year started.
I do not believe that wellness days provide and adequate break for college students whatsoever. I personally agree with Hayden Teeter’s point that it does not reward nearly the same feeling as spring break. I seem to use my wellness days as days to catch up on things I am behind on that involve schoolwork without the stress of having to go to class. This is extremely differently than the time I spend during my spring breaks when I shut down my computer for the week and fully relax without a care in the world. Wellness days are not beneficial to my mental heath, nor do they provide me with the relief of homesickness or true relaxation. In an article written by IDS News a students describes these days by saying, “I don’t really see a difference between wellness days and weekends.” I believe this is an extremely relatable interpretation of wellness days.
I also believe that wellness days are ironic. They were originally created with the intension of keeping Penn States students on campus and away from traveling out of the country to slow the spread of coronavirus. I have come to notice that this day for a lot of people has simply become an excuse to party during the weekdays- ultimately heightening the spread. Overall I can understand the reasoning for the implementation of these days but do not believe it has created a proper solution for our Penn State community.
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2021/02/wellness-days-ineffective-column
The title of this post intrigued me as soon as I saw it. Partially because I was curious as to if there was actual data behind it, and partially because I completely agree with it. As a college student attending Penn State, a school that took away our spring break and gave us wellness days, I can attest to the fact that it does not provide us with an adequate break. Wellness days are completely disregarded by professors and are often spent doing work instead of getting a break. On our last wellness day, a few friends and I took a drive out to a new restaurant nearby with great milkshakes, and one of my friends had to stay back as her professor made everyone go to class in person that day. This upcoming week on Wednesday is our third and final wellness day. Not only did Penn State replace spring break with wellness days, but they took away two of our days! Anyhow, this upcoming Thursday I have an exam, the day after the wellness day! So you can expect me to be studying away instead of taking a break on my wellness day.
This has been an increasingly important topic of discussion that many individuals, administrators, and families are talking about. Although we can all agree that there is nothing quite like Spring Break, as I have experienced a few here at Penn State, and they truly are a wonderful experience when going away with friends. One must understand our circumstances, and I am sure most people understand the difficulties with living in a pandemic now over a year into it. I am not a fan of not having a spring break but I understand that Penn State needs to do things from a sheer compliance and liability standpoint. I am grateful that I was at least granted a few days off would have been great to have the week.
The situation at Central Michigan, I read up a little on other schools’ experiences with this and they were not as forthright as Penn State was in determining when their break was not going to happen. Penn State let their student body know fairly early so they can change whatever travel plans which we should be grateful for. In the article, many individuals were upset and frustrated with the lack of transparency given. These are difficult times and individuals need to be understanding and organizations need to be transparent.
https://www.cm-life.com/article/2021/04/wellness-opinion
This topic has been one I’ve thought about a lot over the past few weeks. Mental health is of paramount importance when it comes to being efficient in school, and maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle. The intention of “Wellness Day” is to accommodate the lack of spring break with sporadic days off throughout the semester. While I completely agree on the importance of being cautious and safe during this time, I am just not convinced that this replacement is equating to the same relief from schoolwork that spring break provides. The purpose of a “break”, in my eyes, is to give students an opportunity to get off of the computer for a few days and decompress. However, with only the occasional day off every few weeks rather than a true break, it seems the general consensus is that these days are only really good for getting caught up on work rather than getting away from it. More importantly, some students are not accepting this as an acceptable alternative to spring break.
While there are still many schools allowing spring break, Penn State is far from being the only one to cancel it. In fact, a slight majority of schools appear to have done away with their break for the 2021 spring semester. Unfortunately, not all students are sold on the importance of staying home during this time. In the article below are details about some students who decided that they were still pursuing spring break this year, although their university did not.
https://www.insider.com/colleges-canceled-spring-break-covid-students-are-traveling-anyway-2021-3
Penn State University has created wellness days for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 Semester, in response to the global pandemic – Coronavirus. As I have experienced wellness day currently, I believed wellness day did provide students to have some chill days between normal school days. Some may argue that wellness days weren’t enough for the student to get a nice break and is bad for mental health. What most of the students did in that one day off, were majorly dealing with assignments, have an easy night party, or hanging out with friends. No one went on a long journey or traveling to somewhere that is nice and relax.
A sad fact I would like to share is more children are getting myopia because of long screen time. either on zoom learning or online homework. “I’m seeing kids who’ve come in and have been doing a lot of online schooling and their myopia is starting to creep up,” says Thomas-Alexandre Noël, an Ottawa optometrist and past-president of the College of Optometrists of Ontario.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/covid-19s-other-victim-our-eyesight
Wellness day is a joke. In class, we learned how important morale is in a work environment, wellness days are the opposite of that. Wellness days don’t actually change anything, most students get so much work that wellness days are just as much work but without the classes. What Penn State needs to do is reduce the exuberant work load they think students can do just because there’s a pandemic going on. reducing workload would allow students to actually cool off at the end of the week. the weekend buffer would increase morale and productivity a lot.
I couldn’t agree more with all of the articles and comments on this post. The wellness days that Penn State and other Universities are having in replace of spring break are not adequate. I understand the importance of not spreading COVID-19 and having spring break would have a higher risk of that happening but I do think there should have been more thought put into the Wellness Days. I believe a lot of students are just using these days to catch up on work or study.
In the article “Spring break Cancellation spark mental health concerns for college students” by Stefan Sykes highlights how much college student’s mental health is only increasing. Sykes states “they [students] had experienced increased stress and anxiety because of the pandemic”. Students are already feeling the stress of college classes, making payments, working a job, the unknown of COVID-19, and now mid-semester burn-out due to not having spring break. Universities are so worried about students not spreading COVID-19 but what about the death rates due to mental health in the country right now. In the article “Pandemic Increasing Suicidal Ideation” by Madeline St. Amour states “about 11 percent of respondents said they had seriously considered suicide over the past 30 days”. I believe universities need to make educated decisions for what is the best for students. That includes looking at both avoiding the spread of COVID-19 and prevented tips for mental health.
I know personally, this semester is not going well for both myself and many others. I believe if spring break was still implemented or wellness days were a few at a time I wouldn’t be saying that. This pandemic is affecting everyone and it is so important now more than ever to ensure the health both mentally and physically of college-aged students.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/spring-break-cancellations-spark-mental-health-concerns-college-students-n1250064
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/17/suicidal-ideation-rise-college-aged-adults-due-covid-19-pandemic
Although many believe implementing wellness days may not have been the most ideal or useful plan to replace spring break, it is still better than not having any break at all. There are arguably many pros and cons to wellness, however, I find it important not to dwell on the things that “could have been”.
For the sake of this blog, though, I’d like to discuss the pros and cons I’ve experienced with wellness days, and what I would do to make them more effective for students.
Wellness days are supposed to substitute our canceled spring BREAK, however having only three separate days off, which are still usually filled with completing work and studying for exams, doesn’t nearly compare to the five consecutive days of no work that comes with a normal break. These wellness days are meant to give students a day to relax and focus on their mental health, however, they don’t feel much different to me than a regular school day. I’m still stressing over the exams and assignments I have due the next day and am glued to the computer screen.
Wellness days were also implemented to keep students on campus to lower the risk of anyone catching COVID-19 somewhere else and bringing it back to the school. However, these past couple of weeks, I’ve seen pictures on social media of students from universities around the country, including Penn State, going on spring break anyways and then coming back to campus. Since many students still have all online courses, they have more freedom to log onto class from anywhere they want, which makes it easier for them to travel. Penn State Junior, Son Ngyuen explained this perfectly in the Daily Collegian article when he said, ““If people want to go home, they are still going to go home with everything mostly being virtual.” This basically leaves the whole idea of these wellness days completely useless in the end.
On the other hand, some pros of these wellness days include students being able to catch up on their school work without having to worry about attending a day of classes. Those who might not have much work for the day might even actually be able to take advantage of the wellness days for what they’re actually supposed to be, though this usually isn’t the case for most college students.
All in all, the first thing I would have done to make these wellness days a little more effective would be to match the amount of days off to a standard spring break; for example, two days off in February and March, and one day off in April. Penn State University also made their wellness days themed; last wellness day focused on mental health where they had yoga and meditation classes online. It would have been nice if these resources were advertised more to the students, if we even had the time to check them out.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/why-some-penn-state-students-believe-wellness-days-are-for-schoolwork-not-mental-health/article_834ccee4-7fab-11eb-8e12-6fa39860a097.html
I really like the topic that you choose because I was thinking about it the next wellness day will come April 7 a Wednesday and I have so much homework to do and homework to do that I will probable spend the day studying. The goal of the wellness day was to replace the spring break but they are random day in the middle of the week. I understand the university plans to put them on the middle of week not on days like Friday or Monday because they don’t want students to travel.
These assignments are useless because there are assignments due to these days so we are not completely detached to the school work as we can be like in a real spring break. If unfortunately a pandemic happen again I would propose weekends in the middle of a week. Having two days off in the middle of the week will help more the student to have a break but it will not allow them to travel to places like Florida etc.
I think that the wellness which were made for the student mental health in these difficult covid time was a big mistake of the university big they are not effective.
https://wellnessdays.psu.edu/
I agree with the article that you have posted that the wellness days are not as beneficial to students that the universities thought they would. Personally, the wellness days are nice to have since we did not have a spring break, but I did not find it beneficial because these days were supposed to be implemented for us to have a day of relaxation. On most of these days, I was either stuck doing homework for a class that the professor assigned a quiz or homework that was due the night of the wellness days. Even if I did not have an assignment due the day of the wellness day, I still either had an exam the next morning, so I would be using the wellness day to study for an exam I had the next day. Instead of having this day for relaxation, I feel I just had a day off from live classes but was still required to work or be studying for things that I had due the night of, or the next day. I think if the universities would have had a better drawn out plan for these wellness days, they would have been a lot more beneficial for the students instead of being stuck doing work or studying on these days for relaxation. The university also picked random days throughout the semester, such as a Tuesday or Wednesday, which in my opinion is just pointless. Taking a spring break away from us, which usually gave us a break from doing work, just defeated the purpose of these wellness days where most of us had to continue to study or do work instead of being able to relax.
https://wellnessdays.psu.edu/
I agree with this article and with another wellness day coming up this Wednesday, I think that this is a very relevant and important issue to discuss. I do not think Wellness days give us the same “break” and period of relaxation that spring break provided. It has its benefits and I can see why it was in place, but at the same time one day in the middle of a random week just isn’t enough for a full-time college student. Teachers tend to give a lot of work, especially during midterm and the last month of school to cram in material so we are prepared for finals in May. With spring break, we were given a week with no assignments during the week and an opportunity to catch up on missed work and make sure we were up to date with all of our classes. With that being taken away, we are left with one day to catch up on work and barely have any free time to relax or use it for our mental health. Even if it was given to us on a Monday or Friday, it would be better since it would allow for a long weekend and short of mini breaks, but it usually falls on a random Tuesday or Wednesday in the middle of the month and is not sufficient in my opinion. I understand they were in place to reduce travel this semester and it worked to an extent I believe. I understand why during this time, they might be better. However, I hope they are not to stay because once things go back to normal and with hectic college schedules, spring break is essential for a student’s mental health and to escape from the busy day to day schedule we are given.
Reference:
https://tcnjsignal.net/2020/11/11/spring-break-is-necessary-for-students-mental-health/#:~:text=It%20provides%20a%20nice%20break,is%20a%20stress%2Dfree%20time.&text=%E2%80%9CFeelings%20of%20calm%20arise%20from,from%20work%20and%20relieve%20stress.%E2%80%9D
I love this article and it is extremely relevant with another wellness day coming up this Wednesday. I believe that while while the wellness days are not the same type of break as spring break, they do have some perks.
Firstly, right before spring break, teachers tend to cram everything to be due just before the start of the break. The wellness days are nice because some have fallen in the middle of some extremely overwhelming weeks. These days are great, because it allows students to put a pause on the constant flow of new due dates and just allow them a day to catch up with what is already on their plate.
Secondly, wellness days are nice because sometimes its nice to juts sporadically have a day off where you have nothing to do. Odds are for spring break, students are headed on vacation or home, but on these sporadic wellness days, there is really no expectation of what needs to be done.
Along with these perks, there are many negatives. For me personally, there are definitely more negatives than positives. Not having a spring break, not having off to spend time with family for Easter and no week off to feel out where in the semester we are, are three big ones to me.
If I had a vote, I would like to implement a week long spring break again next year. With that being said, wellness days have not been too bad while they were here.
https://www.hercampus.com/school/point-park/pros-and-cons-spring-break
The theory of replacing spring break with individual days off throughout the semester to discourage travel seems to work. However, in practice, it leaves much to be desired. At Penn State, I can say the first problem that arose was the amount of wellness days, because there are 5 days of spring break, and the school only gave the students 3 wellness days. The next problem that arose was that during the first wellness day, it became quite clear that for those days, it wasn’t a day the students could have off and relax, it was just a day there were no live classes. Many students found professors still assigned homework due that night, or asynchronous classes to watch instead. In extreme cases, teachers scheduled tests and quizzes the night before, and the morning after the wellness day. At that point, you’re not really relaxing as much as catching up or getting ahead on other work. Despite these issues, the wellness days were kind of doomed from the start, and that is not down to the university or anyone involved, it is solely because people will still do whatever they want to do. Even though there was no official spring break, many students still went away despite warnings.
It seems like this is happening all over the country, with the wellness days leaving everyone unhappy on both sides. I found the Harvard and Vox articles posted earlier in this blog to be really informative and quite frankly eye opening. It seems like people from all over are experiencing similar things to what are happening at Penn State. To answer the original question, what can Penn State do differently? Well in the future hopefully there isn’t another pandemic, but if there was some reason why they didn’t want people traveling for spring break, I would hope that the university would give them more days off during the semester, one every other or every 3 weeks. I feel like this would give students time a nice break in between weeks and they could use it to catch up, or relax. The difference is, they will be able to choose whether to catch up or relax, because they won’t have fallen behind in the first place since they have more time.
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/avoiding-another-covid-19-wave-how-schools-are-handling-spring-break-travel/2021/03
I couldn’t agree more with this, both your synopsis and the article. I was extremely disappointed with Penn State’s decision to do away with Spring Break this year in favor of Wellness days. Not only were these wellness days largely filled with work anyway, but they did not even fall on Mondays or Fridays to give us long weekends. The attached article provides reasons why Spring Break is so important to students. Some of the most important reasons are mental health reasons. In a time when students need mental support as much as any, this was a really important year for a break.
As it pertains to IST, this is extremely important. The IST curriculum can be very taxing and the IST students need this break as much as any. Additionally, this mental tax can be seen on security. As people become more worn down, they tend to be more lax with their security, which could have devastating impacts to people’s personal accounts and the University.
https://www.drmessina.com/blog/why-is-spring-break-important
I agree with this post and article very much. As I reflect on Penn State’s plan for Wellness Days, I am left with very similar thoughts as the students in the Crimson article. Penn State has scattered few Wellness Days throughout the semester, which I am sure they hoped would provide students with a ‘break’ from classes and work, but all it did was add stress to myself and tons of other students. Now I will admit that the Wellness Days do provide a break from classes and logging onto Zoom, but what they do not provide is relaxation and time off from school. I honestly find that I spend my Wellness Days cramming in schoolwork and trying to stay on top of my studies.
In this article from The Hawk Newspaper the author, who is a current student at St. Joe’s University, states that Wellness Days “feel like salt to the wound.” I honestly could not have said it better. Wellness Days are just simply not providing the relaxation and break that they were intended to provide. The author of the article talks about the pressure that college students face and how busy we are all the time. Not only did the author state that Wellness Days are ineffective, she also brought up the very good (and forgotten) point that we lost snow days this year due to classes being virtual. This is a really good point, and one that I also forgot about. Snow days that we would have had off pre-COVID to just relax, we now spent inside our rooms logged onto Zoom. The author ends the article hoping her university will allow more days off, and let me just say that I hope Penn State does the same.
https://www.sjuhawknews.com/health-and-wellness-days-ineffective/
I agree with the points in the Crimson article that the various students make in regards to Harvard’s Wellness Days. At this point in the pandemic, no student is ignorant to realize why a majority of colleges chose to take away spring break and add the wellness days, however, these newly added days bring none of the same benefits as a regular spring break would. In the article, student Austin D. Goldsmith-Lachut acknowledges the need to limit travel and instate the wellness days but he states that he will spend his wellness day on Tuesday’s writing a paper that he has due the next day. I find that I have spent my wellness days similarly. These days are not a day off, they are simply just a day without class, this doesn’t mean that I can just spend the day doing nothing considering I always have loaded up assignments due the next day.
I have linked an article below that discusses one of mine and many of my colleague’s biggest concerns regarding wellness days: mental health. This article from the Vox touches on some big concerns. Author Maryam Gamar states “It has been a year since colleges resorted to online learning, and one of the most consistently discussed challenges has been maintaining mental health. Zoom fatigue and too much screen time have made taking a break even more important.” I cannot stress enough that the amount of time spent in from of a screen due to online classes is ridiculous. I find that I am so glued to my screen with class and assignments that I sometimes don’t even leave my apartment for the first couple of days of the week. Pre-covid, I would find myself outside and walking almost 5 miles a day. Now, I am confined in my apartment doing classes, getting headaches from my screen, and can’t even have more than a one-day break from this. It is my concern that administrators cannot see students struggling. With everything seemingly becoming more virtual, what if a spring break is no more!
https://www.vox.com/22295176/spring-break-canceled-college-students-mental-health
I agree with the article that wellness days do not provide enough relief to students during the semester. In my opinion, the wellness days are too spread out, which makes them more of a day to just to homework or study as opposed to an actual break from school. Personally, I’ve felt myself starting to burn out this semester as a result of not having a regular spring break. Usually, spring break is a time to relax and not worry about school and the wellness days do not have the same impact. I realize the intent behind wellness days was to not have students travel during spring break and risk bringing COVID-19 back to the area, but with most classes being online anyway, people can travel down to places like Florida whenever they want during the semester. In an article written in the Collegian, students at Penn State also agreed that wellness days are not very beneficial. Students said that its a random off day in the middle of the week where you end up doing assignments that are due in the coming days. Kaylee Wilson, a student here at Penn State said that she wishes there were more wellness days in the semester and that they should be placed near each other. I agree with this because even having a 4 day weekend would help students take a necessary break from school work.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/why-some-penn-state-students-believe-wellness-days-are-for-schoolwork-not-mental-health/article_834ccee4-7fab-11eb-8e12-6fa39860a097.html
I must agree with Koller and Peterman about the inadequacy of University Wellness Days. While universities all over the country implemented these in lieu of the pandemic, they are not serving the well-being of students like intended. The purpose of these days is to help maintain student’s mental health in the absence of spring break, yet students are still finding themselves focusing on school, instead of their own wellness.
In the article written by Penn State’s, Daily Collegian, (linked below) students reflected on their ‘wellness days’, and most came to the similar conclusion that they are ineffective. While professors are not allowed to make anything do on that ‘wellness day’, they are allowed to make assignments and tests for the next day, leaving students to a day full of studying and work—disregarding their mental health and therefore disregarding the intent of that day.
Other universities, like Northeastern, are also having Wellness Days throughout their semester, however on these Wellness days they are offering activities that foster and encourage students to focus on their “holistic wellness and mental health”. Students at Northeastern can take part in meditation, yoga, and workshops on mindfulness, resilience, and social wellness. I believe Penn State should adapt some of these practices and offerings to their wellness day, so that students don’t feel forced to disregard their personal wellness for the purposes of their education.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/why-some-penn-state-students-believe-wellness-days-are-for-schoolwork-not-mental-health/article_834ccee4-7fab-11eb-8e12-6fa39860a097.html
https://news.northeastern.edu/coronavirus/university-messages/announcing-care-days-and-campus-changes/
I must agree with Koller and Peterman about the inadequacy of University Wellness Days. While universities all over the country implemented these in lieu of the pandemic, they are not serving the well-being of students like intended. The purpose of these days is to help maintain student’s mental health in the absence of spring break, yet students are still finding themselves focusing on school, instead of their own wellness.
In the article written by Penn State’s, Daily Collegian, (linked below) students reflected on their ‘wellness days’, and most came to the similar conclusion that they are ineffective. While professors are not allowed to make anything do on that ‘wellness day’, they are allowed to make assignments and tests for the next day, leaving students to a day full of studying and work—disregarding their mental health and therefore disregarding the intent of that day.
Other universities, like Northeastern, are also having Wellness Days throughout their semester, however on these Wellness days they are offering activities that foster and encourage students to focus on their “holistic wellness and mental health”. Students at Northeastern can take part in meditation, yoga, and workshops on mindfulness, resilience, and social wellness. I believe Penn State should adapt some of these practices and offerings to their wellness day, so that students don’t feel forced to disregard their personal wellness for the purposes of their education.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/why-some-penn-state-students-believe-wellness-days-are-for-schoolwork-not-mental-health/article_834ccee4-7fab-11eb-8e12-6fa39860a097.html
https://news.northeastern.edu/coronavirus/university-messages/announcing-care-days-and-campus-changes/
I usually play devil’s advocate, but I am on the same side as both of you and I tend to agree with what was said in the Harvard Crimson. While these wellness days do not seem to compare to the fun to be had on Spring break, it is important to remember that universities did this for a reason and not just to be cruel. Circumstances are a little different over at East Michigan University according to Central Michigan Life. They share that their one week “Winter Break” was substituted with two consecutive wellness days on March 3rd and 4th. Their “one week Winter Break” is the equivalent of their Spring Break. Most students’ complaints arise from the amount of work they were assigned on these wellness days. The university never specified that professors were not allowed to assign homework on these wellness days, thus some students claimed that wellness day felt more like catching up. Jen Newton, a teacher of special education at Ohio University, On March 6 wrote on Twitter, “College students really, really need a break, a real break. Not a random Tuesday. This is hard. Burnout is real” (Bouman). With coronavirus already taking away a majority of college students’ fun around the country, wellness days are just a one day pause in the grind.
https://www.cm-life.com/article/2021/04/wellness-opinion
As I have experienced a few Penn State Wellness Days, I have to agree with the points brought up in The Harvard Crimson. While there’s no argument on the importance of canceling spring break, the added wellness days do not work as well as they were intended. Wellness days are meant to provide some sort of academic relief, which sounds great on paper, but having one day off can only do so much. As classes pick up during the semester, one day off really just turns into one more day to do homework without having to log onto zoom.
The article linked below from Temple News advises Temple University on some changes to be made in regards to their wellness days that I believe could also be implemented at Penn State. The Temple News Editorial Board recommends that the university look into “wellness weeks” that can be unique for each individual school. The staff reports that one of the schools, Temple’s College of Engineering, was able to implement a wellness week where classes did not meet and no major projects were assigned. I believe that this would be a great solution to the now faulty wellness days. A full week would surely give students enough time to decompress and focus their energy on their own mental health rather than schooling. Giving each college the liberty to choose their own unique wellness week would also help programs from falling behind. Providing a week off while still at school would be a great way for Penn State to give their students a little of their spring break back while also remaining aware and responsible during the pandemic.
https://temple-news.com/wellness-days-dont-cut-it/