{"id":9720,"date":"2014-02-25T17:41:01","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T22:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=9720"},"modified":"2014-05-20T13:23:29","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T18:23:29","slug":"vacation-vs-staycation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2014\/02\/25\/vacation-vs-staycation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vacation vs. Staycation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"centerpiece\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While some students at Sinclair Community College may prefer going out of town for spring break, others may be staying in.<\/p>\n

Spending spring<\/p>\n

break out-of-town<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For individuals planning to spend spring break outside of their normal surroundings, Honors Program Coordinator Derek Petrey advises them to fully immerse themselves into the culture of their intended vacation spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know in life what\u2019s out there, unless you experience these other things?\u201d He said. \u201cWe have this phrase, \u2018broaden your horizon\u2019 and what that means is go out and explore new places and look at things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petrey, who teaches Spanish at Sinclair Community College, has traveled to 17 countries and hopes to visit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a study abroad trip at the end of my bachelors program,\u201d he said. \u201cMy first experience was an immersion; I was in Chile for four months.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some colleges, including Sinclair, provide traveling opportunities to students and their financial aid could count toward the trip. In December, Petrey, as well as Sociology Professor Kathy Rowell and Communication department Chair Heidi McGrew, accompanied a group of students to Guatemala, and Sinclair is currently planning to travel to Guatemala again in December of this year with a different group of individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one important thing people don\u2019t realize is that when you\u2019re in a college program, you can take a course for degree purposes, your financial aid will go toward that trip,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can use financial aid to study abroad, and most colleges have scholarships to study abroad, especially if you\u2019ve never traveled to another country before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although language may be a barrier while traveling, he said it\u2019s important to learn it to fully experience the culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, when I travel I really make an effort to learn as much as I can about the people and the cultures that I\u2019m going to visit because \u2026 I want to know more about what\u2019s going on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that upon returning home after traveling, it\u2019s essential to reflect on the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I travel, the more I see the things we have in common,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we need to celebrate diversity, but I also think we need to celebrate the things we have in common, because wherever I\u2019ve gone, 95 percent of the people just want to live their lives, love their families, love their children, have a job that has meaning to them and make a living for themselves and be a human being and live their life \u2014 and those things are the same everywhere.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Making the most out
\nof spending Spring
\nBreak at home<\/p>\n

If you were to look up spring break staycation on Google, you will see pages upon pages of things to do while stuck at home during the week of no classes. For Sinclair Community College students, spring break can take many different forms.<\/p>\n

For one student, spending spring break at home is about playing video games and taking care of animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take care of my horses and chickens,\u201d Briana Pepilascov, a Music Education major said. \u201cI also play Call of Duty until the wee hours of the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pepilascov also advised students to pick up a new hobby for themselves if spending spring break at home.<\/p>\n

Communication major Duncan Richards Bailor is unsure of what he is going to do while spending spring break in the comfort of his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what I am going to do yet,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll probably just take it day by day \u2014 maybe hang out with friends, maybe sleep, but I\u2019ll almost definitely be playing video games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the break day-by-day is a common theme that Blake Robinson, an undecided major, agrees with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what I am going to do yet, but I\u2019m just going to take it one day at a time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Visual Communications major Loren Smith encourages students to experience something new in Dayton with the time away from classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you have the time off, experience some cool things in Dayton,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m a volunteering-type person, so I definitely think that could be good for spring break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said that volunteering at animal shelters would be good for those interested in giving their time, because shelters are always looking for volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt nursing homes, it is also good to volunteer,\u201d she said. \u201cThey like when people come to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteering opportunities for students are available in Dayton. Some places to volunteer include the Good Neighbor House, Catholic Social Services of Miami Valley and the United Rehabilitation Services.<\/p>\n

However, Music major Michael Whitecar believes spring break should be a different time altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think spring break should be in April when it\u2019s actually warm,\u201d he said. \u201cSpring doesn\u2019t technically start until March 21, so why is spring break so early in March?\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberal Arts major Ben Graham agrees, adding that it is difficult to have a spring break in Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no spring break in Ohio,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d rather stay in my house; it\u2019s warmer in there than it is outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecar also said spring break should be extended for two weeks instead of one.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t waste it and have fun,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIf you stay home and watch TV all the time, spring break is going to be gone just like that \u2014 you don\u2019t want that to happen and wonder why you didn\u2019t do anything fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While some students at Sinclair Community College may prefer going out of town for spring break, others may be staying in. Spending spring break out-of-town   For individuals planning to spend spring break outside of their normal surroundings, Honors Program Coordinator Derek Petrey advises them to fully immerse themselves into the culture of their intended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2wM","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9721,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions\/9721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}