Isabelle Callan – Contributor

Student Success Week is an opportunity for students and staff to take a much-needed break from academic activities and focus on their mental health and families. As we reach midterms and assignments are due, many students and professors may find themselves at the peak of their stress. Success Week allows time for those who are in this position to take a break and focus on their mental well-being, spend time with family, or simply study for upcoming exams. By functioning like a March break in the first semester, this break reflects the same timely advantages as its winter counterpart.

This semester, Success Week will be from Wednesday, Oct. 26 to Tuesday, Nov. 1. Last year, both the success and reading week were held from Monday to Friday, allowing everyone to enjoy the weekends as an extension of the break.

With the days off shifted to begin in the middle of the week, students and staff lose the comfort of having a weekend on either side. This is especially difficult for students who don’t live in Quebec and may want to travel home during the week since it reduces the number of days for travel. The usual Monday to Friday schedule allowed the weekends before and after to facilitate more flexible travel to and from campus. 

Additionally, the old schedule provided more time for students and professors to prepare for the return to normal academic activities. The mid-week start date reduces the number of consecutive days off while still missing five days of academics, leaving less time for student and faculty success for no apparent reason. 

One major problem with the current time frame is that students are more likely to skip the Monday and Tuesday classes in favor of an 11-day break. This reduces the students’ time in class and the productivity of the classes themselves. If teachers know that attendance will be abysmal during those days then they are more likely to cancel classes or cover less material in order to avoid covering important topics while missing a large portion of the class.

The same amount of academic activities would be missed in a Monday through Friday break as during the Wednesday through Tuesday break. The school should hold Success Week during the typical Monday through Friday week to give students and faculty the best opportunity to be successful in academic activities while maintaining their mental well-being and lives outside of the university. By choosing an awkward time to begin the holiday, Student Success Week retains all of the same disadvantages and fewer advantages than before. Shifting the five days off to connect both weekends would be the most efficient use of the autumn break.