Due to Fall 2020 semester’s hectic schedule, Albion College has decided to incorporate wellness days into the Spring 2021 academic calendar. These are days that students and faculty will have free to themselves. They can either use them to take time to themselves or to catch up for the next set of tasks coming up in the following days.
With a change comes opinions about the change, and students have plenty to share.
Some students are concerned about the positioning of the first wellness day and think it should be put toward the end of the week for maximum use.
“[The last Wellness Day was] on a Wednesday, and I would have preferred if it was on a Friday so that we have a long weekend or something,” said Vicky Turner, a senior from Ypsilanti. “It feels weird to have a day off and then have to go back to class abruptly.”
Other students are concerned about other events and activities that are planned around students’ “off day.”
“I like the idea of wellness days, but all of my student organizations planned events on that day, so can you really even call it a wellness day?” said Emily Hainer, a sophomore from Kalamazoo.
Student Senate President and junior from Rochester Hills Zahara Ahmed, appreciates wellness days from both the perspective of a student and as Senate president.
“As a student, I really appreciate the wellness days being added into the calendar. Last semester, I felt like I was constantly on the go for long stretches so it would get exhausting. I think the addition will really help us all focus on other important aspects of what we want to get out of college, like learning to better take care of ourselves and make connections with people around us,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed said she is proud of Albion’s strategic planning and listening from fall semester into spring.
“From a Senate perspective I think it really shows that Albion cares about like catering to students. There are a lot of other colleges small colleges around the country that are doing the module system and they’ve implemented break days for the spring semester, learning from the fall,” said Ahmed, “But, what gave me a spark of pride being an Albion student during this time is that our college didn’t just put in break days to show they’re doing something, but it was specifically catered around students needs.”
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