SRU Breaks Not Only in Cancun

By: Nathan Sanders and Josh Vanjani
Posted In: News

Newport, RI- Saturday, March 3 marked the beginning of Spring break for Salve Regina University. Proposed activities ranged from student trips to New York City, to staying on campus, as some faculty and staff retain usual responsibilities, and then some.

Yoshi Masunaga, a sophomore at Salve, faces a different situation than most students because he is an international student. With home in Tokyo, Japan, Masunaga cannot go home so easily as most of the students that attend Salve. Instead, he will take a trip to visit his best friend for four days in New York City. The rest of his break will be spent at Salve.

Masunaga said he had been to New York City before and was particularly fond of the shopping.

“New York City is a big city and my friend, Shuta, is my best friend that I don’t get to see a lot and want to see more,” Masunaga said.

Psychology professor Paula Martasian will spend her break in her office at Salve. She is going to be getting work done so that she can prepare for the weeks following the break. While she does not technically have the week off, she does get a break from her busy class schedule.

Professor Martasian expressed her support of the break for students.

“Their stress is gone and they are able to focus more because they’ve had that home fix,” Martasian said. She also said she remembered a time when she went to Bermuda for a Spring break while in graduate school.

Freshman Tom Bates is returning to South Windsor, Connecticut.

“I didn’t make any plans so I can relax,” Bates said. “Some home cooking would be good.”

Other students will not have the luxury of total relaxation. Sophomore Carter Rink is returning home to Beverly, Massachusetts to work for infomercial company ITV. Eventually, he will break from work to “go fishing with some friends back home.in Maine,” Rink said. Rink said he will be excited to return to school.

Associate Dean of Students Gerry Willis will be working over Spring Break, “just doing the normal family thing,” going to the gym, and catching up on work at the quiet campus.

“Unfortunately my days of hopping on a plane and going to the Bahamas are over,” Willis said.

Others are balancing work with travel. Dr. Clark Merrill is taking his daughter to Pepperdine College in Malibu, California, which is on the Pacific coast. Though the warm weather will be enjoyable, Merrill will have to balance work with pleasure.

“I have so much work piled up that I’ll be spending all of my Spring Break-aside from traveling-unburying myself from it; catching up.I’ll take a cartload of papers for grading, and books to read, and papers to write with me,” Merrill said.

All in all, it should be an eventful Spring Break, for all Salve Regina University faculty, staff, administration, and students.