For the first time in decades, Marshall students are preparing for a midterm break.

The break, which is scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11, will allow students to have a long weekend off following midterms.

While some students may be packing their belongings for a weekend vacation, senior Sara Williams said she is most looking forward to having a short break from the stress of her final year at Marshall.“I haven’t really had much relaxing time, so that’s probably what I’m going to do,” Williams said. “I haven’t been able to sleep in since the semester started, so that’ll be exciting.”

Although Williams said she will spend the break relaxing, she said she will also have to dedicate some of her time to catching up on the strenuous homework demands of her senior year.

Senior Isaac Raines said he is also excited to have time to rest, having felt the exhaustion of college “ever since about the third week of my freshman year.”

Raines said he plans to visit his hometown of Beckley, West Virginia, spend time with family and potentially make a trip to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia.

A member of Marshall’s Student Government Association, Raines initially proposed the midterm break to the Budget and Academic Policy Committee last year. Raines said his idea sparked from seeing the amount of Monday university holidays, such as Labor Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He said having a midterm break would balance out classes, especially labs, canceled on those days.

Additionally, Raines said his hope was to give students a “mini break” since, previously, there was no scheduled time off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

“Around that time of year, you’ve got Thanksgiving, and then you’ve got Christmas back-to-back. We had Labor Day earlier,” he said, “but in that middle there, there’s nothing to really break up the monotony of the middle of the semester.”

Although the break gives students two days off at midterm, it adds a week on to the end of the semester, turning the university’s typical 14-week semester into a 15-week semester. 

Since the final weeks of the semester are often met with burnout, not all students are happy with the schedule change.

“I think I like the idea of having the break in there. It breaks it up,” Williams said, “but I also don’t know that I want to go longer in the end.”

“I feel like by the time I get to the end, I’m just ready to be done,” she added. “So, it’s dragging out, and I’m burnt out, and I’m just ready to be done.”

The university has already scheduled the Spring 2025 Semester midterm break for February 13 and 14, tacking an extra week on in the spring, as well. Raines’ implemented 15/15-week schedule change is set to last for the next four academic years, at least.

Baylee Parsons can be contacted at parsons406@marshall.edu.