BCA recently had its second pandemic spring break. Spring break 2020 came mere weeks after the World Health Organization named COVID-19 a pandemic, and stories of mass outbreaks at parties and other gatherings filled the news. However, with individuals better informed about and more cautious of the virus, this year’s spring break was better.

For instance, many colleges (e.g. Yale University, Ohio State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, etc.) chose to cancel spring break this year for fear of a repeat of last year’s outbreaks. Although this decision was made with the health of the college community in mind, students were understandably disappointed. 

We, thankfully, are not college students—yet—and had spring break as planned, but the pandemic forced BCA families to change their spring break plans as well.

The chart below shows how deeply COVID-19 restrictions and fears affected BCA student plans, with 1 being “Not at all” and 5 being “Completely”. Very few students believe their break was unaffected by COVID-19, and the majority believe their plans were heavily impacted. 

Many annual family trips were cancelled, much to the disappointment of students, but 14% of students still traveled out of state this year. This may be surprising considering the many restrictions surrounding COVID-19, and some students believe that families that travelled out of state this year are selfish. However, 14% is much less than the three quarters of respondents who typically or always travel out of state over break. 

Additionally, the vast majority of respondents usually use spring break as an opportunity to meet friends or family. This year, however, 50% of BCA students did not meet friends or family outside of their immediate household over break, and the majority of those who did were outdoors and socially distanced. This once again required changing annual plans and gatherings.

One thing remained the same as previous years: homework. While most students took the opportunity to stay up late, binge watch TV, and sleep in, they also spent a lot of time catching up on work. Still, with trimester three having only begun a week prior, most students saw a brief reprieve from overwhelming work and spent most of their time relaxing. However they spent it, all students enjoyed the much deserved week-long break from school.