By Morgan Fink
Staff Writer
At long last, the students of Pepperdine get a break. Students can stay out late and sleep in.
Or they can spend their days soaking up the sun or surfing without all the guilt of neglecting homework, for at least one week.
For the first time, students at Seaver College will have a week-long Spring Break, from Feb. 25 to March 1.
Previously, students were given a long weekend, but it was taken away in 2000 and replaced with holidays on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President’s Day.
This year, students got a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and will also get a weeklong holiday for Spring Break. Students will not get a holiday for President’s Day.
Pepperdine students plan to take full advantage of their week off from school. Senior Hillary Viets and a couple of her friends are going to Tokyo to visit her friend’s brother.
“It’s my only real college Spring Break so I want to do something really special,” Viets said. Viets made plans early and got her ticket to Tokyo before Christmas through United Airlines.
A less expensive option is to take a road trip to Mexico. Pepperdine students Brent Lilley, Nick Garcia and Josh Rockwell have decided to head down to Rosarito to have a good time for a cheap price.
For those students who want to spend their week volunteering, Campus Ministry has organized a group of students who will be driving to San Felipe to build houses for those without.
The Pepperdine Volunteer Center is also sending students to five sites for Project Serve. One group will be going to ground zero in New York City to serve food to the relief workers.
The other sites include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Felipe, Mexico. Students were interviewed for these positions and chosen last week.
Many students have yet to make plans and will spend their vacation on campus. The dorms will remain open to residents the week of Spring Break. Students should keep in mind that Public Safety does not take breaks and that regular rules still apply.
The idea of Spring Break is not totally lost, however. While students staying on campus may not be jetting off to some exotic destination, they can finally take advantage of having a beach in their front yard.
For those students who are undecided about ways to spend their vacation, it is not too late to get a group together for a great time. Since Sept. 11, flight fares are still low and several Web sites offer last-minute getaway prices.
Despite popular belief, fares to typical Spring Break locations such as Cancun, Mexico, and Daytona Beach, Fla., are not lower during Pepperdine’s Spring Break in February than the week state schools have their break in mid-March. The sooner students get their tickets the less expensive they will be.
Students who are staying in the Los Angeles area and trying to save money may want to go support the Waves basketball teams at their tournaments in San Diego.
The women’s tournament begins Feb. 28 and the men’s tournament begins March 2.
Faculty members are also looking forward to their week of downtime. Some faculty members plan to use their week off to catch up on grading and all the other work that has been piling up.
Others plan on traveling to different conferences around the nation. Dr. Michael Casey and Dr. John Jones of the Communication Division are attending the Texas A&M Conference on Presidential Rhetoric.
Pepperdine students are not unlike their professors in their interest to spend their Spring Break volunteering.
Dr. Cynthia Cornell-Novak is going to spend her week volunteering at a women’s shelter called Daybreak and will also try to raise $30,000 for developing programs at that shelter.
Whether the break is spent in the sun or snow, volunteering, working or watching the Waves sports teams, it will be a week in spring to be productive or lazy. It will be the first time students are given that choice.
Useful Spring Break Web sites
http://www.orbitz.com
Offers travel deals, information about spring break destinations.
http://www.placestostay.com
Provides information about hotels from all over the world, special deals.
http://www.collegespringbreak.net
Details the most popular places, activities and music for college students on spring break.
http://www.placestostay.com
Easy access to travel agents, airline companies and hotels.
February 14, 2002
