Winter break is just around the corner, and while most students will travel home for the holidays, some will stay on campus. Weber State University keeps the campus open year round so students can continue to take advantage of its amenities.
“We don’t shut down any of our housing ever, so students can stay in their room all 300 and some odd days of school.
We don’t ever shove them out of their room,” said Allison Hayes, assistant director of resident life and marketing. “For students who are doing mid-year moves, we have a change process for that, but as long as you are staying in your same room for spring, we don’t shove you out.”
Students who stay on campus for the winter break might still have the opportunity to spend the holiday with either a roommate’s family or even just a group of friends who are all from out of state.
“I am from India, and it can be kind of costly to go back for a month, and plus I am working too. I have to get resident ship,” said Aman Gada, freshman and photography major. “I don’t know what is offered for Christmas yet, but they do celebrate. I will be going down to my roommate’s place in Arizona for Christmas. Otherwise, I don’t know what goes on in Ogden. ”
Many activities are available to students in the Ogden area. As Christmas gets closer, there are always opportunities to volunteer.
“The homeless shelter will always take people — like, St. Anne’s will always take people to help serve,” said Chad Mosher, director of events and operations for the Shepherd Union Building. “There is also the Ogden Rescue Mission; a lot of times they need people to serve or help sort clothes, because they get a lot of donations this time of year.”
During winter break, the Swenson Gym, Stewart Library and Shepherd Union Building will all be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Students can come into the union and get a bite to eat — the sandwich store will be open, so it’s limited venues that are open,” Mosher said. “They can always catch up on their studies or grab a book from the library and hang out. We have plenty of big-screen TVs they can come watch.”
Although these few buildings are open to students, the rest of the campus becomes like a ghost town, but students can go to the downtown Ogden area to find activities. Students can always go to Salt Lake City for a day by using their $20 UTA pass or use the new ice rink in the Sports Complex adjacent to the Dee Events Center.
“There are a number of clubs and groups who are doing events throughout the break just to keep people involved,” said David Wilson, WSU Student Association president. “During Christmas break, the school really just dies down. It’s a lot like summer break, where the union is open and the library is open, but other than that there is not much open.”
“The Nutcracker” will play at Peery’s Egyptian Theater on Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Another activity to get WSU students into the holiday spirit is Christmas Village on 25th Street, open throughout December.
Activities are also hosted primarily for the students who live in the dormitories. These activities are hosted to help keep WSU students involved and building connections to other students on campus.
“We will be doing one activity per week per village,” Hayes said. “Obviously we can’t do something every night ,because students will find their own stuff to do. But we will be doing activities through our break just to give them something to do. We will do just typical things like ordering pizza and watching a movie on TV one night, playing games or having s’mores.”
