For me, spring break was a real pick-me-up. I didn’t do much traveling, but I spent some time playing music, enjoying the weather and, of course, watching basketball.

There was no exhaustion, no deadlines and no stress. Well, except for that final Shockers game. But that’s another story.

Coming back, I felt recharged and ready to face the remainder of my semester, sleep deprivation and all.

When I started asking my fellow classmates and co-workers what they did over the break, I started to realize that not everyone got the break I was fortunate enough to have.

Some had projects they had to work on; some had midterms the first week back; some worked full-time for their week off.

The point of spring break isn’t to give students a week of work to do for classes. It isn’t a study week like dead week is before finals. It’s a week to recharge before the final push to the end of the year. Spring break should be a literal break from the stresses that kill student morale.

Professors: respect the purpose of spring break and give your students an actual break.

Students: respect your peace of mind and take a break. Emails, projects and studies can wait a week. Over the week of rest, I opened very few emails and refused to crack open a textbook.

Sure, I had to take the weekend to catch up a bit, but I knew that going in. I didn’t want my stress as a student to infect my week of rest and relaxation. It may not have been the most useful week, but now I’m back and ready to take on whatever the semester throws at me.