Those who have been here at Marywood for more than a year may have noticed that the upcoming winter break is a bit longer than it has been in the past.

According to the University’s calendar, this semester ends on Dec. 13, while the next one picks up again on Jan. 14, giving students just a bit over a month to enjoy themselves during the break.
While the break always hovered around a month in length, it was never quite this long before. And while The Wood Word is anxiously awaiting this break as much as anyone else, it is important to ask why it is being made longer in the first place.

It all comes down to graduation. Traditionally, seniors at Marywood have graduated on the second Sunday in May. This means that the commencement ceremony had to compete with arguably the most important holiday: Mother’s Day.

In 2015, Mother’s Day will be on May 10. Commencement, however, falls on Saturday, May 16. With graduation taking place a week later than normal, the semester starts a week later to ensure that the semester is kept at its appropriate length.

It’s hard to see a downside to this. A longer break for the holidays and no more competition between graduation and Mother’s Day are undoubtedly the best features of the shifted date of graduation, but perhaps there is one downside.

With commencement on a Saturday, the hooding ceremony, which was traditionally on a Saturday, has now been moved to Friday. This might add some extra conflicts with work for both graduates and guests that would not have arisen with the graduation events taking place on the weekend.
Those that find themselves grumbling about a point like this, remember that graduation only happens once, whether it’s one’s own or that of one’s son or daughter. Life after graduation is nothing but work, so take the Friday off and enjoy it.

With that said, The Wood Word would like to wish everyone luck with the rest of their semester, and an enjoyable—and extra-long—break.

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