A breakdown of break day

Students were able to catch a breath of fresh air on Tuesday, March 16. Classes were halted for the day and students had a chance to catch up on homework and take time for themselves. However, a number of fun opportunities were made available for students to enjoy around campus, many of them occurring simultaneously. The Anchor traveled to a number of these events and spoke with participants and hosts.

Markets and Morality, along with Geek Life and the Departments of Political Science and History, kicked things off on March 15 for Break Day with a showing of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” The classic 1975 British comedy about the fictional quests of King Arthur is not only wildly entertaining but also contains a number of interesting references to actual historical events and the principles of “absurdism.” The event was hosted online, with participants each changing their name to a funny character featured in the film.

SAC offered a bowl painting event on Tuesday. Students could register ahead of time and pick up supplies for painting bowls. The bowl painting did not take place in the BSC but was a DIY takeaway craft, which will get fired and then returned to students. Next to the SAC stand for bowl painting was a stand celebrating Gratitude Week. The stand collected comments about what students are thankful for. Some of the comments read, “I’m thankful for the sunny weather,” “I’m thankful for all of my really cool friends,” “I’m thankful for my professors” and even “I’m thankful for the squirrels!” The poster also recommended practicing gratitude by celebrating in other ways, such as keeping a gratitude journal or complimenting a stranger. In light of this, The Anchor asks its readers: what can you be grateful for today?

In the Pine Grove, the Holland Police Department was handing out frozen treats through their Operation Polar Patrol van, equipped with a freezer, police lights and a polar bear character design on the side. The Anchor spoke with Nicole Hamberg, Community Policing Officer for the Holland Police Department. “I came together with Hope College Campus Safety, and we’ve had the Polar Patrol for about three or four years with our department. I came to Campus Safety and just said, ‘You know, I would love to bring the truck out again to Hope College to be able to have positive impacts with the students.’ So that’s what we’re doing.” Hamburg stated that “the best thing I’ve seen [in terms of maintaining a healthy campus-police relationship] is to maintain communication and reach out to each other, you know, trying to work together when there’s certain issues going on. And then also doing positive impact events like this and working together on that.” 

The Anchor also visited Lemonjello’s, as the famous Holland coffee shop was donating 20% of profits to support the Hope College chapter of Engineers without Borders, which is “a student-led organization dedicated to empowering underserved communities across the world through humanitarian projects. As a member chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, our group aims to provide experiential learning in the foundations of fundraising, service, global health, communication, environment, and engineering,” according to the group’s email.  The cafe was packed with happy customers, each one raising money for a critical organization within Hope’s extracurricular ecosystem.

The final event attended by The Anchor was the cornhole tournament, from 1-3 p.m. in the Dow. The final championship match took place between two teams. After the match, we spoke with the champion team “Jack Squared,” Jack Jendrasiak (’23) and J.C. Skoog (’23). They noted that all of the teams were evenly matched, creating a great competitive environment in which each game was enjoyable. “Every game was fairly intense,” Jendrasiak recalled. “The last game we were down sixteen to nothing, came back to win it. [The final score was] twenty-one to twenty.” The pair noted that if you exceeded twenty-one points, your score resets to fifteen, a classic cornhole rule. Skoog noted that he played cornhole fairly regularly, but Jendrasiak is fairly new to the activity. 

All in all, there were a great number of offerings available last week for students interested in spicing up their break day. But, excitingly, that’s not the last of the opportunities available for students, because Break Day is happening again Thursday, March 25! “Donut Fiesta” will be taking place in the Admissions Office starting at 9 a.m. From 2-4 p.m., there will be an Easter Card event for Volunteer Services in the Bultman Student Center. From 10 a.m to 2 p.m, Asian Student Union is holding a fundraiser in the form of goodie bag sales at the $5 and $10 level. The funds will go directly to the Myanmar Relief Fund, intended to relieve the suffering of the people of Myanmar, who have just recently experienced a violent military coup and repression of the population.

Finally, a number of informational sessions about different academic programs within Hope will be occurring over break day, and the KAM will be open for visits to some of their unique programs. Thank you to all of the student organizations involved with the planning and execution of these fine Break Day events!