Jacob Smith
The Southern Editor
As we’re approaching the halfway point of the Spring 2025 semester, that also means that spring break is right around the corner. As nice as it is to have a weeklong break from classes and other school responsibilities, that’s not really why people get so excited for this period of time.
Spring break has developed this reputation of being a time for excessive celebration and partying, with certain cities being such popular vacation spots that they’ve implemented a lengthy list of restrictions for the safety of tourists and locals. Is all of that really necessary? Does spring break deserve all of that hype? How has Florida Southern helped to combat this distinction?
According to an article from the BBC, the holiday was originally started in 1934, when the swim team from Colgate University in New York travelled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a winter warmup. The team enjoyed the experience so much that they started an annual swim meet, the Collegiate Aquatic Forum.
“People who came to it inevitably returned to campus and spread the word about the warm weather and beautiful beaches, and the secret was out,” travel writer and Ft. Lauderdale resident Thomas Swick told the BBC.
Over time, word spread to more and more people, with as many as 350 thousand students flocking to the city by the mid- 80s. The festivities eventually found their way onto other beaches, such as Key West, Clearwater Beach and Daytona Beach. As the years passed, people began to get involved in more and more debaucherous activities. These actions reached their peak in the late 80s to early 90s, when MTV provided daily, eight hour broadcasts of the city partying.
“Spring Break is a youth culture event. We wanted to be part of it for that reason,” MTV Vice President Doug Herzog said in an interview with Sun Sentinel. “It makes good sense for us to come down and go live from the center of it because obviously the people there are the kinds of people who watch MTV.”
Although the mayors of both Daytona Beach and Ft. Lauderdale were originally on board with the annual boom in business that spring breakers brought with them, they have now changed their tune by enforcing harsher drinking laws and increasing law enforcement presence. In 2024, Miami Beach followed suit, releasing an ad where they “broke up with spring break.” The video highlighted the introduction of curfews, bag checks and restricted beach access to persuade people to find somewhere else to party.
The fact that cities are having to implement such intense and strict precautions because of a bunch of rowdy young people begs the question of whether or not spring break is something that should still even be celebrated. However, I believe Florida Southern’s treatment of breaks is an example of how spring break can shed its current reputation in favor of something more positive.
After completing four semesters, students are eligible to go on a “Junior Journey.” This opportunity allows for students to pick from a selection of curated trips that travel to various places around the world, such as Japan, Ireland and Italy, and experience a sliver of what that area has to offer. While on the trip, students are paired with a faculty advisor that ensures everyone is sticking together and practicing the same etiquette they normally would on campus. As lame as it might sound, the supervision is really just so that everyone is able to have an enjoyable visit to whatever country they’re staying at without getting themselves into excessive amounts of trouble.
If this concept was adopted by other colleges, I think that it would be a benefit for both the students and the cities, as the cities wouldn’t have to deal with any disruptions of peace by partiers and the students would be able to still have a fun and memorable spring break.
