Each student at Hingham High School has to endure those long, grueling days in between each break. At first, it’s just looking forward to the next weekend, a few nights where there’s no late night assignments or last minute cramming for tests. And, to be honest, weekends themselves are never enough for the average student. Let’s say Friday night you see your friends, Saturday morning you go to a game, you get home and finally have time to yourself, and then Sunday morning you wake up and it’s already time to do hours of homework. Students slowly begin to drain themselves, just waiting for a chance to catch a break from cranky teachers and foggy mornings. Then, as the weeks begin to pass, students begin to look forward to their week-long break from school, whether it’s in November and there’s a Thanksgiving dinner waiting for them, or April when the sun peaks through in Hingham and the hope of summer surfaces. 

Well, for Hingham High, April break has just passed for the students. Some come back sun kissed from Aruba, or exhausted because of jetlag from traveling to and from Italy, while others feel lazy, but refreshed from laying in bed all break. Although, the question that continues to wrack the mind: What is the best possible way to spend April Break? Is it a staycation, a roadtrip, to travel somewhere to bake in the sun– and how is it possible to figure out which one allows for the perfect vacation.

Let’s explore the April vacationer that remains inside of the cozy town Hingham. Let’s say this specific student does not play a spring sport, and has no commitments going on during April break. Maybe their friends are out of town traveling, and they come home that first Friday night on break and jump straight into bed. They spent their week going on walks around Hingham, ordering late night takeout, finishing up a book and television show, and a good chunk of time on social media. They also found time to study for those upcoming exams this May, but they continue to see the constant posts about the fun places their peers travelled to. To them, their break seemed incomplete compared to their classmates, and when friends ask what they did over the past nine days, they’ll respond with “nothing.” In reality taking a week to rest your body and enjoy a life without classes from eight to two thirty is the opposite of nothing. It’s a chance to clear the mind, focus on something beyond that math test next period or that essay due tomorrow morning. It’s a chance to catch your breath. 

Medically speaking, a staycation might be the healthiest thing you can do for your body. So many students suffer from sleep deprivation, and break is a chance to catch up on some sleep and fuel your body which is still in its early stages of development. Sleep deprivation can affect your mood, your work ethic, and even your physical features in the extreme. By taking time to yourself to sit around and not move your body, to let your brain just take a beat, to do “nothing” is sometimes the most important thing you can do (“The Power of Rest”). Just take the week to unwind, and enjoy what Hingham has to offer, after all, it is the beginning of spring, which means the start of sunny days free of stress. 

Now other students who stay in Hingham over April break do not have the same chance to take the entire week off to rest, rather they spend the week devoting themselves to the sport they have chosen to compete in during the spring season. Audrey Lambert, a sophomore at Hingham High School, describes how, “Over the course of my spring break, I rode. I am on the crew team, which means during April break most people stay so that they can grow and improve their skills. Over the break it was extremely cold though and we had a lot of morning practices. So, I constantly was getting up early and my hands were all blistered, but it was fun to be with my team and friends.”

Although Audrey loves being a member of the crew team, she can find it exhausting to spend her entire break on the frigid waters in the early morning. It can be difficult to spend what is supposed to be a time to relax working your body to a point of pain, but Audrey still manages to see it as an opportunity to see friends and continue to grow into a better rower. Still, it can definitely be frustrating for students to have to continue their sports over a time period that is supposedly dedicated to regaining energy and taking a minute to breathe. It’s a common misconception that since high schoolers are young they’re able to haul through, keep going because they’re young and healthy. But, at any age, working out for extended periods of time repeatedly can cause muscle strain and excess fatigue, actually decreasing your athletic abilities (“Workout recovery: Sleep, eat, move, plan”). The truth is, everyone deserves rest, everyone needs time to rest, so that is something that spring sports should consider in future years. 

The other option over April break is to travel far away from Hingham and get to experience the thriving world outside of our little community. There are a multitude of different cultures, geographical landscapes, and so many beautiful parts of the world filled with rich, unknown parts of history to many students at Hingham High. A sophomore at Hingham High School, Neve Brown, travelled to different parts of Europe (the Netherlands, France, etc.) through the high school with some of her closest friends. She mentions how, “Over my April break I traveled to Europe through the school! I adored the palace of Versailles and all of the art in the Louvre (although the Mona Lisa was much smaller than I had pictured). I met so many new people on the trip and spent a lot of time just laughing and enjoying myself with them. The only hard part was that there was not much time for sleeping, so I was tired for most of the trip.”

During the past week, Neve has experienced a rare kind of trip that few high school students get the chance to undergo. From trying delicious foods, like a croissant from Paris, to viewing historic pieces of art like the Mona Lisa, which was apparently a bit of a let down to Neve Brown, Grace’s trip was full with activities. Along her trip she met new people from all types of backgrounds and got to connect with them on an individual level. Yes, Neve will be severely jet-lagged and the six a.m. alarm will be a brutal wake up, but she will never forget the valuable memories she made along the way. 

So, what is the best way to spend your April break? I could argue that the warmth in Florida is way better than lying in bed and looking at an instagram post of someone in Florida, but I believe it truly depends on the individual and how you want to prioritize your free time. A vacation where you stay home is a chance to rest, to catch up on your hobbies, your thoughts even. Connect with who you are outside of the stress of school, relationships, friends, and sports; learn to be a person content with making peace with having quality time. Or, travel to the opposite side of the globe! Try exotic foods, take photos in front of draw dropping human creations, speak an unfamiliar language, and enjoy life outside of the bubble we call Hingham. As students, the experience of traveling outside of the country with your friends is a rare offer I believe few would want to pass up on. So, it’s a decision each student has to make individually at Hingham High, but either way, you won’t make the wrong choice.