At the Veiled Prophet Ball seniors Grace Colbert, Caroline Gibbs, Maret Welby and Allie Hornbarger get ready in a hotel room before the ceremony began.

Short Winter Break causes upset among students

Emily Wind, Staff Writer • January 19, 2016

Although Winter Break is a thing of the past, repercussions of the short break are still in effect.

Winter Break for the Parkway School District started on Dec. 24 and ended on Jan. 4.

“It was pretty short. I would have liked more time to decompress from last semester,” senior Andrew Impastato said.

The 2014-2015 school year’s break was five days longer, starting Dec. 20 and ending Jan. 5.

Senior Alex Karrenbrock with his family in Maui, Hawaii over Winter Break shortly before he goes surfing for the first time.

“I never remember going that far in. That was really something,” principal Jeremy Mitchell said.

The Mehlville and Rockwood school districts, as well as standalone private schools such as DeSmet and Cor Jesu all had Winter Break that started Dec. 19 and ended Jan. 3.

“[The districts] all need to get [a required] number of days in,” Mitchell said.

Some other schools had a winter break longer than Parkway because they had less days off during first semester. Parkway had one extra day off than both Rockwood and Mehlville, excluding Thanksgiving break.

“If I had to choose, I’d rather have a little bit of a shorter break and have some little days off in October and November,” Mitchell said.

However, students like senior Grace Colbert had plans over winter break that interfered with her attendance for finals week.

“I was planning on missing Dec. 23 because on Dec. 22 I had an annual ball for an organization that I’m a part of called Veiled Prophet,” Colbert said.

On Christmas morning, junior Kjell Hagen and his siblings take a picture in their new pajamas.

Colbert was able to take several finals before break but still had to come to school on Jan.4, during the teacher preparation day, in order to make up several she missed.

“It was difficult to work out with the teachers because I made them come in on our last day of winter break to come in and take a final,” Colbert said.

Students have been concerned that this short break may affect this year’s summer vacation dates. It has caused the Parkway schedule to be one of the first schools in St. Louis to let out in May.

“Our last day is May 19, and [the seniors’] last day is May 6. That is exceptionally early,” Mitchell said.

Aside from all of the fuss and bitterness about the length of break, Winter Break was still enjoyable time with family for Mitchell.

“We got Netflix for the first time… Have you seen the Walking Dead?!” Mitchell said.