The SA and class representatives gathered on Feb. 14 to hear the pros and cons about a fall reading week; opinions were divided.
As part of their scheduled meetings with the SA, the class representatives met in a divided discussion on whether the college should have a fall reading week, following the steps of other educational institutions such as Carleton University.
Victoria Glen, a third-year student and class rep for the electrical engineering and technology program, was among the group of people in favour of a fall break. Glen argued that a lot of depression problems had been identified among her classmates and having a breather should help to solve this issue.
“We are all extremely stressed out and when I was discussing this issue with my classmates we were all shocked that there isn’t one,” Glen said. “I would say almost any single one of us is stressed out of our minds and reading week would definitely help.”
On the contrary, students from the tourism and travel program, expressed their disagreement of having a fall reading week, arguing that if a fall break is imposed in their calendar, they would only have one week break between semesters.
“They don’t want a break because we would only have one week between semesters. We would be in favour of a summer break, though,” said Danielle Carrie, first-year student and class rep of the tourism and travel program.
The petition is still in its early process and there is not a specific date on when the SA would present it to the college president.
“We are in a very basic stage at this point; we are working on making a recommendation to the college… we are in the collecting feedback stage,” said Victoria Ventura, vice-president of the SA.
The meeting agenda also included other topics such as the presentation of the Class Representative Award and the Wybourn Award designed to acknowledge and reward the best class rep and student leadership respectively.
The next class rep meeting is scheduled for March 14.