According to an unofficial Spring Break web site, “Spring Break is an established cultural tradition among college students, an annual event with its own sets of rituals, a piece of 20th century Americana.”
Another web site explains the ritual as being a week-long recess from studying, during which time many students travel to a tropical location and party hard during their escape from the hallowed halls of their colleges and universities. “The ultimate party: a raucous concoction of tequila, bikini-clad women, late nights, shocking hangovers, and acting the fool with your closest friends.”
Performing a Google search for websites specializing in Spring Break destinations, college students can encounter countless web sites inviting students to popular destinations, including San Diego, Las Vegas, Daytona Beach, Cancun, Acapulco, Jamaica and South Padre.
To attract students to the featured destinations, inviting web sites display colorful pictures of students having the type of fun that could occur only off-campus. Student-given testimonials linked to the web sites are good enough to seal the deal of allure. Two words seem to pervade the web sites: party and nightclubs.
Do the words party and nightclub work to lure the average college student to a popular spring break destination? According to some COS students, the answer is a resounding yes.
“I plan to go to Club Raw in San Jose [California],” said Rodrigo Zamora, 19.
“I have my plane ticket to go home to Fort Launderdale, Forida. I’m going to party in South Beach Miami at Club Millennium,” said Gerald Francois, 20.
“I’m going to San Diego or Sacramento. I have friends in both places and we’re going to party,” said Shanae Sills, 18.
So, how do students in a foreign city find “where the party at”? Sills has an answer: “We’ll go to a gas station and have people ask us to go to parties — and we’ll go.” Josie Gonzalez, aged 18, said she waits for a text message notifying her of a party location. She then shares the location with other friends who do the same.
Some COS students are planning a road trip, like Shaun Davis and Armando Madrigal, both 18, who are planning to drive to Los Angeles with six people in a five-passenger Honda Civic.
“I guess someone is going to have to sit in the trunk,” said Davis. Davis and friends are planning to stay at his brother’s house and “going to the beach, parties, and possibly taking pictures outside of the Staples Center.” By Davies’ own admission, he and his friend don’t have enough money to go inside the Staples Center to enjoy a Lakers game.
Not every young college student spends their Spring Break partying around the clock. Kevin Roose, the author of “The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University” went undercover at Liberty University in Virginia — Rev. Jerry Falwell’s “Bible Boot Camp” for young evangelicals — and accompanied a group of students to Daytona Beach, Florida during a recent spring break. Their mission was to evangelize to the partygoers.
“Around 11:00 p.m., the Jesus Mobile pulls up to Razzle's. Razzle's is a Wal-Mart-size nightclub with a squadron of ear—pieced bouncers manning the velvet rope and a set of revolving laser lights that overflow onto the sidewalk. We won't be going inside,” Scott said, but we'll stand just outside the rope, witnessing to people waiting in line.”
Perhaps each student has their own views on how to spend spring break. Whether or not you’re partying or evangelizing, Spring Break is a break — so relax and be safe.
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