Miller Michalczewski ’25 | Ishani Khanna ’25 | Emi Enakhimion ’24
Pros:
The decision to shift winter break forward in the 2023-2024 schedule will be beneficial for the EA community.
With winter break beginning a week later than what students are typically used to, falling from December 22, 2023 to January 7, 2024, the first and second semester will become more equal in length. The current schedule creates a small, but noticeable discrepancy in the lengths of these semesters, with the second semester being longer than the first.
Although both semesters have equal amounts of events and breaks, Mike Letts, Head of Upper School, says, “They don’t necessarily jam all kinds of additional stuff in the first [semester] but you can see where that also means that the second semester may not be moving as fast as the first, and you don’t want that. You want the experience to be equitable.”
Having more equal semesters will also reduce stress levels. Letts does not predict that this shift will disrupt students’ time to study for exams, nor teachers’ time to finish their semester content. If anything, students will now obtain a bit more time in the first semester to finish courses and study for exams.
Letts suggests that this new time could allow students to enjoy their holidays in a new way. For example, they could spend time “traveling after Christmas and into the new year… You can be on a week’s long vacation starting New Year’s Eve and still be back for the start of the second semester.”
Next year, the holiday season will be more balanced so time spent with family and friends during celebrations won’t have to be cut short in order to return to school. Michael Chadwick ’26 says, “I think the benefits of having winter break pushed back is that most people travel to meet another family for New Year’s, in other states, and when that happens, people rush going back to school to get back to Pennsylvania after New Year’s. So, with that extra time, people can spend more time during New Year’s and do not have to worry about that hassle of getting home on time.”
On the other hand, the majority of students will be relatively unaffected by this change. Marcus Childs ’24 notes, “I don’t mind the break shift because the amount of days we have is still consistent.” For most students, as long as the holiday is the same length, there is no problem. This new change will prevent any future complications and has the potential to be an advantage to traveling students and administration.
On an academic note, having the first and second semesters more equal in length will help students with their semester courses and preparing for exams. Max Kelly, IV Form Dean and Upper School History Teacher, comments, “Kids feel the impact on different levels of spreading material out so maybe some units aren’t as rushed. And, especially teachers who want to make sure that the curriculum is not rushed.”
Increased time for first semester material is valuable because often students feel overwhelmed by large amounts of last minute work being crammed into their schedules. Kelly adds that “[students] get more time to possibly review or get new content,” helping students feel a lot less overwhelmed and providing more of a balance in their schedules.
Another benefit of this schedule will be that semester courses will be able to fit in all of the content they would normally be able to cover in the second semester. Tanuja Murray, V Form Dean and Upper School Math teacher, says, “The first semester is shorter than the second semester which doesn’t have a large impact on year-long classes because that is a random breaking point, but now we have so many semester courses with science and English. The two-week difference between the semesters can lead to scheduling issues and conflicts.”
Thus, more content will be covered, and there will be more time for students to review and prepare for their exams. Sarah Taylor ’24 says, “I like this change because it gives more time to study for fall exams and overall extends the semester in general.” This new schedule change is supported by both teachers and students alike, with its added benefits towards course content and review time.
Photo Courtesy of Gianna Trala ’23
Cons:
There are some negative side effects to the change in winter break dates. One drawback of the adjusted winter break schedule is that people who usually leave during the last week of school or even prematurely will have to miss more school than they usually do. Chadwick explains that “the only time it would affect certain people would be if they want to leave for break early before school actually ends.”
For people who celebrate Christmas, the time beforehand is a major factor for many students who are going to see their families. Kailin Gao ’25 agrees, saying, “I would want there to be a little time before Christmas. So if I were to travel to see any family or if I were to do anything that required me to be there on Christmas Day, I could do it without missing school.”
This calendar shift would also change vacation scheduling, which will be a conflict for some working parents. Gao adds, “Both of my parents work and if they were going to take their holiday break, it would probably go from a little bit before Christmas to the end of New Year’s. So, logistically, it probably wouldn’t work for me.”
It would also be hard for people to participate in certain extracurricular activities and major sporting events during the first week of Winter break as some major organizations plan significant events after they assume school has ended. This will be a struggle for those who plan on attending these events because this could bring up the possibility of missing crucial school days or even exams.
The first week of winter break (typically starting around December 18) is sometimes more significant to some families. Gao argues that she would rather have a few days before the holidays than after New Year’s, saying, “I honestly celebrate Christmas more than I celebrate New Year’s. And I don’t really need a few days to recover from New Year’s. I guess it just means more to me to have Christmas than just days after another year.” Some people value this extra time before the New Year’s, so losing that time before Christmas could be tough on some people.
For rising seniors, the shifted winter break schedule provides added stress when it comes to college applications. With the deadline for many regular college applications is January 1, juniors in the past have had the luxury of starting winter break earlier, around December 18, giving them more time to finalize or write their essays. With a later starting date for winter break, juniors now have less time to finish applications.
David Cataldo ’24 explains that “the school should not push back the winter break dates so students can complete college applications without being pressed for time or sleep deprived.” Similarly, Rick Chen ’24 states that “the pushed back winter break gives me less time to finish college applications. Because they are due on January 1, it makes this whole process more stressful.”
Extending farther into the first week of January, the new winter break schedule has notable drawbacks including logistical issues with parents’ work schedules as well as less time to revise and finish college applications.
