STEPHANIE BRINK | features editor
Every year on Dec. 25, we celebrate Christmas. It is one of the most highly anticipated days of the year for children and salespeople alike. In fact, some stores start selling Christmas items in July and many people decorate months beforehand, all for those fleeting 24 hours of Christmas.
Although it can be said this holiday is overdone in American culture, and I would agree, part of the fun and novelty of Christmas is the anticipation leading up to the actual day. Christmas is a special day because as one out of 364 others, it stands out as different. Think about it: if we celebrated Christmas once a month, it would no longer be special. Celebrating it would become tedious, and we’d all begin to hate red and green and go broke buying gifts.
To me, having themed weeks at APU should be like Christmas. A themed week is different from every other week, and should stand out as such. It should be rare enough to be anticipated and celebrated rather than becoming a norm that blends in with every other week in the month.
Perhaps it is a bit of senioritis in my blood, or maybe just lack of sleep, but I can’t keep up with all the themed weeks on campus. It seems to me that every other week at APU has a theme: I’m no longer surprised when I see tables, balloons and banners gracing Cougar Walk as I weave my way to class.
Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the chapels, events and forums that are planned during these weeks to raise awareness, rejoice in our past as a community, develop new habits and challenge our assumptions.
In fact, during my four years here I have attended many discussions, chapels, film screenings, Cougar Walk fairs and Trinity lawn events, and have been blessed and stretched through them. I appreciate the hard work many students and staff pour into planning and coordinating these weeks.
However, I would suggest that these efforts may be better received and draw more student participation if themed weeks did not occur so often.
It seems to me APU students, myself included, tend to live way-too-busy lives. Balancing schoolwork, part-time jobs, family life, finances, volunteer activities, relationships and church involvement—not to mention fun and sleep once in a while—is not easy. Sometimes there are so many things—often important things—vying for our precious time, we forget what is the most important and develop unhealthy habits of over–commitment.
Themed weeks provide wonderful opportunities to learn about important issues, pursue ideas we are passionate about and learn together outside of the classroom. For these reasons I think they are supremely valuable.
However, when there are so many of them, I think the novelty begins to fade and they no longer seem like unique opportunities that can’t be missed, but, become tedious duties, breeding grounds for over-commitment instead.
This past year, we have had Healthy Living week, Homecoming week, Global Vision week, Spiritual Formation week, Justice week, Legacy week, Dating and Relationships week and Unlearn week, not to mention the ever-chaotic midterms and finals weeks that pepper our lives with stress and caffeine.
In fact, as I look back at my planner, four of the last seven weeks have had some sort of theme.
As I reflect upon my life this past month, I have desired to attend a variety of on-campus events through these themed weeks, but have not been able to because of the demands of my classes and jobs, which must take first priority.
In no way am I asking staff to stop planning such events and providing us opportunities to learn through these themes. Instead, I would suggest a more evenly dispersed schedule of themed weeks. Making them a less–regular occurrence will allow students to anticipate their coming and prepare them to make room in their schedules for attendance.
In short, I believe themed weeks would be better attended and better received if they were strategically spaced out and planned around midterm weeks when students are already overloaded with work and should be using any spare moments to rest.
Having themed weeks too often is like celebrating Christmas every month: overbearing.
Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. We need some time to rest and anticipate, or else we’ll become emotionally broke.
