Thanksgiving encourages people to gather with family and friends and reflect on the things they are thankful for, and this year at Elon University that includes the weeklong break from classes.
The break will be Nov. 18-28, giving students, faculty and staff a week off to enjoy the holiday.
This is a new change. Previously,the university celebrated the national holiday over a four-day weekend. According to University Registrar Rod Parks, the calendar change took place only a few years ago.
Parks said the change is about how much instruction time the university dedicates to its students. “We focus on that 14 week calendar to make sure that the courses [students] take have depth rather than breadth,” he said.
Extending the holiday break improved that, Parks said. Before, the break was shorter, meaning more classes could be held prior to Thanksgiving. Students returned from the four-day weekend to fewer remaining classes before facing finals.
“Having the longer break means that students come back to a full week, or two weeks, of classes,” Parks said. “And it gives faculty the ability to delve into the material a little more deeply.”
However, instruction time was not the only factor taken into account when the length of the break was changed.
“One of the primary reasons that we went to a longer break was because having students travel on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year, was a safety concern,” Parks said.
More than 80 percent of Elon students are from out of state, which makes traveling home for the holidays difficult for some students, especially those who live more than a few hours away.
Sophomore Chloe Tagariello is especially grateful for that, because she will be flying home to New York for Thanksgiving this year.
“Since I have to fly home, the longer break gives me enough time to actually be home,” she said. “Travel days influence how much time I actually get to spend at home, so it is nice to have a whole week off and not feel rushed. It gives everyone enough time to be home and see the people that matter to them."
Elon’s student body is also composed of a significant number of international students. These students come from 28 countries outside of the United States and comprise a little more than 10 percent of the total enrollment.
“The short break didn’t allow students who are international enough time to get home, spend any quality time at home and then get back,” Parks said.
Residence halls and dining halls also close for Thanksgiving break, making it difficult for students to stay on campus if they chose not to go home.
Extending the break to a week gives students more incentive to travel home for the holiday. Sophomore Rodrigo Pires is one international student who will be traveling home to Sao Paulo, Brazil for Thanksgiving break.
“It gives me time to get home comfortably and still have time to enjoy family and friends,” Pires said. “This year and last year I went home during fall break as well, but I missed three days of classes. So, if the break for Thanksgiving was shorter, I would probably have to choose between going home for fall break or Thanksgiving break.”
Parks pointed out that the longer break has also given Elon the opportunity to offer new global experiences to its students. The university offers semester-long travel-embedded courses that are taught on campus during either the fall or spring semester, but include a travel component in which the class travels during either Thanksgiving break or spring break.
“A lot of student who have a really tight curriculum now have the chance to study abroad with these new types of programs because they have that week in between when they wouldn’t be taking classes anyway,” he said.