By Brendan Bogley
The winter break is over and the spring semester at FCC is underway, giving students plenty to occupy their time. However, as people have grown and progressed through life, winter break itself has less and less remained a period when students’ lives are uncomplicated. Work, pastimes, and yes, even more school are factors that students attempt to manage during this vacation.
Students approached this past break with specific goals or expectations, and sometimes unforeseen issues or events made their way into the agenda.
“I expected to work a lot,” said Lorenzo Bolanos. He has a job at The Tasting Room in downtown Frederick. In fact, around Christmas and New Year’s he was working full time.
Bolanos’ job was not the only thing that took up his time, or rather took away his time.
“I couldn’t go many places because my car broke down,” he said, adding that it happened only two weeks into the break.
Another student, Kate Riddle, ended her vacation on an incongruous note.
“I hung out with my boyfriend every day, and then he broke up with me,” Riddle said.
Some students, however, planned what would happen in their break.
“It was all expected,” said Nick Jeffas, who added that his family takes a trip to Colorado every winter. Jeffas also worked his job at Lawn Perfect Landscaping full-time.
Jobs compose much of students’ time between semesters. Such was the case with students Kaitlyn Walsh and Connor Good.
“That was my plan, to stay busy,” Good said.
Another student, Evan Moss, said that he worked at Courtyard Marriott a great deal during the break, but that was not all of the work he did.
“I did community service,” Moss said. He said that he woke up one day and decided to volunteer downtown at a food drive.
“I definitely learned how to manage my time better,” Moss added.
This is in keeping with the opinion of Trevor Roberts, who decided that sleeping in was a waste of time.
Roberts also said that he entered winter break hoping to go snowboarding often. However, December’s weather wasn’t conducive to the sport, and it was not until shortly before Christmas that he was able to go snowboarding. Roberts added that he had gone to Seven Springs Mountain Resort.
Roberts said that he hopes to work as a counselor at High Cascade Snowboard Camp in the upcoming summer.
Even during the break, students sometimes decided to bring school back into their lives early.
“I got an early start on my classes,” said Jeni Lacko. “I started reading textbooks one week early because I was bored.”
Another student, Greta Curley, began her education early on as well.
“I took J-term classes,” Curley said. “I love J-term.”
She added that she would rather be in classes that were completed over the course of five weeks rather than 15 weeks. Curley said that the longer courses allow for enough space between assignments for one to lose track of her workload.
Despite the complications, she is confident that it will all be managed.
“Que será será ,” Curley added, quoting the Spanish expression that translates into “what will be will be.”
However, school is not everything that Curley spent her time on during the winter break. She said that she also reconnected with people from her past.
“So I guess it’s digging up old roots – good roots,” Curley said.
