Why We Take a Week to Regroup Just before the End of the School Year
Let’s face it…the school year can be grueling! In many places, students start hitting the books weeks before Labor Day and keep at it until Memorial Day or even deep into June. For most, spring break comes just at the right time, providing a breather before the final push. But it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, it might surprise you to learn that what now feels like a longstanding American tradition has only been around for a little more than 80 years and really didn’t become standard until the 1960s. Can you believe that there are even school systems in the United States that don’t schedule a spring break?
How Spring Break Came into Being
The model for spring break originated in the early 1930s, when some northern swim coaches sought to get an early start to the season by taking their athletes down to Florida for training. Historians generally agree that Colgate University started the practice, but by 1938, there was a spring swim event in Ft. Lauderdale involving a number of northern college swim teams.
Over the next 20 years, colleges across the country slowly joined the bandwagon, with more and more students heading south in late March or early April, mostly to Ft. Lauderdale. The popularity of the annual pilgrimage exploded in 1959, when Hollywood put its stamp on the phenomenon with the cult classic “Where The Boys Are,” starring George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux and Connie Francis (who also sang the title song). Time Magazine also boosted attendance at the 1959 spring break with an article entitled “Beer and the Beach.”
Spring Break Takes Off
Before Hollywood and Time Magazine sanctioned the event, Ft. Lauderdale officials estimated an annual influx of about 20,000 college students. In 1960, that number jumped to more than 50,000 and by the mid-1980s, the city welcomed more than 350,000 visitors every spring break. Other Florida cities soon followed suit, with Daytona Beach and Panama City becoming popular destinations. In 1986, MTV started broadcasting live from Florida, fueling yet another growth spurt. Spring break is now a national and international phenomenon, with cities across the American South, from Florida to California, inviting revelers. Other top spots include Cancun, Jamaica and other destinations throughout the Caribbean.
