Courtney Cole / Delta Staff Writer 

Spring break is a time-honored college tradition, but Missouri Valley College is one of a number of institutions of higher learning opting out in 2021.

Diane Bartholomew, Vice President of Academic Affairs said the decision to cancel spring break was decided by the President Bonnie Humphrey’s cabinet and approved by the Board of Trustees during the summer of 2020. 

Several factors were taken into considered before making the decision, including: decreasing the exposure to and the possibility of bringing COVID-19 to campus, limiting the long breaks for the employees and the students, and allowing for a longer break between semesters to accommodate quarantines. 

“I think there are several benefits to a mid-semester break, however, at the time the decision was made to not have a spring break, the health and safety issues overshadowed everything else,” Bartholomew said.  “In the future, I hope we can reinstate a spring break, both because it would indicate the end of the pandemic and because I think a change of pace, place, and/or focus can be beneficial.”

If there had been a spring break, Bartholomew said she would have planned a day to go to either Columbia or even Kansas City with her husband. If MVC would have had a spring break that would have been aligned with other schools’ spring break, she would have gone to visit her daughter or even in-laws for a few days.

Jaxson Southard, a freshman football player, said he is honestly okay with not having a spring break due to the fact that this school year the students at Missouri Valley College are getting out earlier than they usually do. 

If there actually was a spring break, he was going to choose to go back home back to southern Utah and see all of his friends. But if he could actually travel somewhere pretty far, he would go to South Padre Island which is in southern Texas.

“I am just trying to enjoy life the way it is,” Southard said.

As it is, Southard said he is choosing not to go anywhere for Good Friday or Easter weekend since his home is pretty far from here. He is choosing to actually relax for the weekend.

He said he is planning to transfer back to Utah and finishing his education there and hopefully that school will have a spring break for their next school year.