With Thanksgiving around the corner, many students are being bombarded with the, “When are you coming home?” texts from the family. Many parents are expecting we get the whole week off for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately we only get four full days home.
According to the LSU 2017-18 Academic Calendar, student holiday begins Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. Assuming some teachers will be holding their Wednesday morning classes, this gives University students just a few hours to travel back home before Thanksgiving festivities begin. Many University students come from out of state, making this small time frame problematic. Students should not have to be boarding a plane or driving across state lines hours before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is arguably the most family-orientated holiday and serves as a way to connect with family you normally don’t see every day. School is important, but nothing is as important as your family.
LSU should revisit the schedule and attempt to make the Thanksgiving break a day or two longer. Even having the break start at 7:30 a.m. rather than 12:30 p.m. would be beneficial because students would have the option to travel Tuesday or earlier in the morning.
At Ole Miss, students will receive the 18th through the 26th off this year, similar to Auburn receiving the 20th to the 26th off. When broken down, most students will be traveling Wednesday, eating Thursday and relaxing Friday and Saturday before having to travel back on Sunday. So, in reality, students can’t even be home for the whole weekend before having to pack up and head back. That leaves only three short days at home.
Why is it that our Thanksgiving break is as long as our Mardi Gras break? Don’t get me wrong, I love Mardi Gras, but I love going home to see my family, too. For both holidays, students receive 2.5 school days off. This break time is perfect for Mardi Gras, but it falls short of satisfying students when it comes to Thanksgiving.
The break schedule implies Thanksgiving is no more important than Mardi Gras, which is not true. Mardi Gras deserves a 2.5 day break, maybe three, but we deserve to have Thanksgiving week off, like some of out other Southeastern Conference schools do.
The University should allocate much needed time toward improving the academic and non-academic aspects of students lives. Students come from all over the country and world to pursue an education at this University. All students who do travel here deserve time to be able to get back home, just like those who do live close deserve to be able to spend as much time with family as possible.
Casey Pimentel is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas.