By Ann Chin
Northeastern students were once able to head to the beaches over spring break with a clear head. Finals were over and they had a week to bask in the sun before returning to a new set of classes and a fresh start.
With the implement of semester conversion, a three-year project that was put into place in September to bring the university on to a semester calendar, spring break became a pause in the semester, rather than an end. Pushed up about two weeks from where it typically fell, students this year will be able to put away their books for the first week of March, but papers and finals will still linger on their minds.
“We wanted the break kind of in the middle of the semester,” said Coleen Pantalone, the former vice provost who played a key role in the conversion process. “We didn’t want to give students only two weeks to complete their papers and the rest of their work before finals.”
The intersession used to fall somewhere between the middle and end of March on the university’s quarter calendar.
“I think spring break falls at an appropriate time,” said Morgan Ferbert, a sophomore psychology major. “Even though compared to other schools, it’s rather early, I feel that it gives a good break within the semester.”
However, some students who took classes under both calendars, are ready for new professors and new subjects.
“I’m sick of my classes already,” said Joanna Pietrzyk, a senior finance major. “I’m used to them being almost done by now.”
Because of such sentiments, Barbara Waszczak, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, said the break could not have come at a better time. She said she has noticed students becoming tired of their classes.
“It falls just after the halfway point,” Waszczak said. “[Spring Break] is the best place it could be. One could take a breather at this point and feel fresh to finish the rest of the semester.”
The semester calendar also affected co-op rotations, which gave some students the opportunity for three-month rotations. On a six month rotation, many students will miss out on spring break entirely.
“I prefer the quarter system,” said Mark Talty, a middler political science major. “Not particularly because of classes but because a six month co-op is way too long.”
University Registrar Linda Allen said comparing the former break in sessions to spring break is not viable.
“It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” Allen said. “We started early in January and we looked at the time left in the semester. Academically there was not really a compromise.”
Final exams for spring semester are set to start April 15. In past years, exams ran from the end of May through the beginning of June.
“When all precincts have reported and after we have had a number of spring semesters to get used to the new phenomenon,” said Dr. Alan Zaremba, associate professor of communication studies, “students and faculty will be very pleased with the new system.”
