The History of Spring Break

In high schools across the nation, the end of the third quarter and the remainder of the academic calendar is the most strenuous time of the year.

Many students are exhausted from the daily grind of each day and pushing hard to reach their potential during second semester.

Spring break is conveniently timed.

The miniature vacation has a deep history but remains to have modern day advantages, like providing the students with the opportunity to relax and recharge for the challenging work that faces students in their final 45 days.

There will be no school at Lind-Ritzville High School (LRHS) from Monday, April 6, through Friday, April 10, for spring break.

Excitement with the approaching season originated with the Greeks and Romans. To the ancient empires, spring represented fertility and awakening from a long winter.

In their celebrations, Greeks and Romans paid their respects to Dionysus and Bacchus, the Gods of wine and fertility. The celebration gained religious traction with the celebration of Easter; this was where the absence of school stemmed from.

Modern traditions of relaxation began in 1936 when Sam Ingram, the swimming coach at Colgate University (a small liberal arts college in New York) made the decision to provide his team with more practice.

According to http://content.time.com, Sam Ingram “brought his team down to Fort Lauderdale in 1936 to train at the Casino Pool—the first Olympic size pool in Florida.”

Colgate University’s swim team attracted the attention of other colleges.

From there, springbreak.com says, “As Ivy League students returned from their Easter vacations at their families’ estates in West Palm Beach and Miami, word spread about the Casino Pool and the potential to get an early start to swim practice.”

Casino Pool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida became the location of the College Coaches’ Swim Forum in 1938. Three hundred swimmers attended the event.

Fort Lauderdale’s growing popularity as a ‘hot spot’ for spring break increased exponentially in the 1960s when the spring break inspired film “Where the Boys Are” was released. In 1953, 15,000 college students headed to Fort Lauderdale.

By 1985, 370,000 students fled there, and the tradition of having a good time over spring break was born.

Having a weeklong vacation is necessary to the mental stability of the students but can also create a miniature academic roadblock for scholars to overcome.

Student Miche’al Dickey explained, “It’s a good break for [us] kids, but we do lose a little bit of knowledge here and there, and it’s kind of difficult.”

The general consensus of students is that the benefits of spring break outweigh the potential drawbacks.

Student Rachel Kropushek said, “It helps you feel not so stressed about the rest of the year; it gives you time to think.”

Micheal Carruth added, “It provides kind of like a release from the stressful assignments and things we’ve been doing. It’s a [chance to] catch-up from everything.

Spring break has historical significance from the Greeks and Romans to 20th century swim teams and offers students a much needed vacation from their academic endeavors.