Campus Catholic Ministry President Jillian Thomas said she didn’t originally realize how drastic of a difference Spring Break would be this year. 

Thomas said she enjoyed her time relaxing and spending time with family at home and catching up on downtime amidst the hectic nature of needing to keep up with studies, but it was a surprise to learn that it would be cut short since she  needed to drive back to school on Easter day.

“That change is a little surprising to me, and I do question why that was decided,” she said.

This year April 1 was Easter Monday, a holiday that marks the second day of Easter celebrations for many Christians. Typically, this has been a day that Elon students have had off in the past because Spring Break was usually scheduled earlier in March. However, with Easter Monday taking place directly after Spring Break this year, it was not counted as a day off. 

Because of this many students had to travel back to campus on Easter. This affected the Catholic community at Elon, in particular members of CCM. 

“It was a shock to a lot of members of our community when they realized that a lot of Easter was going to have to be sacrificed for the sake of travel,” CCM Vice President Alexa Ferraiuolo said.

In the future this timing of Spring Break may become the norm at Elon. According to the 2024-25 academic calendar, Spring Break will be around a similar time with classes in session on Easter Monday.

Thomas said that this decision to have Spring Break earlier affected more than just the celebration of Easter Sunday and Monday. Because the entire week leading up to Easter — known as Holy Week — was spent away from campus, CCM’s ability to hold activities throughout the week was impacted. 

“I think for me and for members of our community, we look forward to the whole week and spending time together on campus when it is occurring,” Thomas said. “We have different events and special masses for Holy Thursday, as well. So, mostly, I think about that time and community that we didn't have.”

According to Ferraiuolo, CCM had to change the way they scheduled Holy Week activities like the Stations of The Cross—an exercise of visiting and praying at 14 stations to commemorate Jesus's passion and death on the cross—as a result of Spring Break’s timing this year. 

“We tried to schedule similar reflective activities for the week prior, but, obviously, not all of it can be moved because some specific days are designed for specific activities and rituals,” Ferraiuolo said.

CCM still held an Easter Sunday service but moved it to later in the day in order to accommodate students who were traveling back from break that morning.

According to the University Registrar Rodney Parks, classes starting on Easter Monday was a decision made by the Calendar Committee. 

He said in a statement to ENN that the university made the decision partly due to the limited number of weeks in the semester and the classroom hours needed to meet accreditation standards. For students who celebrate Easter Monday, he said that there is already a policy in place that supports requests for days off due to religious holidays.

Thomas acknowledged that it must be difficult to plan an academic year and accommodate everyone. 

“I'm sure it's a horrible nightmare trying to plan that academic calendar for a year,” Thomas said.

Ferraiuolo agreed, saying that Catholic students are usually prioritized by the university. 

“I will say that we are lucky that we Catholics aren't typically forgotten by members of the institution, especially those who are involved in planning student life. I don't think the decision was anything intentional against Catholic students,” Ferraiuolo said. 

Thomas believes that despite the drawbacks, there are benefits of this potential new schedule.

“I appreciate being able to also have Good Friday at home and not worry about classes because I would not have gotten religious absence because I do want to prioritize my studies. So, in some ways, I am grateful that that wasn't a worry for us this year,” Thomas said.

Ferraiuolo said that there is a lot of value in spending time away from studies during a week that is very important to Catholics. 

“I think there's a lot of value in us being able to have time away from studies on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. So having that this year had a lot of benefits,” Ferraiuolo said.

According to Ferraiuolo, Christians will get a religious holiday off whether it’s Good Friday or Easter Monday. 

“So, no matter how you slice it, there are important days that we've had off,” she said.