Raegan Carter
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — Many Winthrop University students say they’re excited for the return of warm temperatures this spring, especially after a winter that brought two different severe storms in January that closed the campus due to ice and snow.

Thus, with the dreary winter weather likely behind us, all that is left for Winthrop’s spring semester is fall registration, finals and basking in the fluctuating warm weather that a budding Southern spring brings.

The sunshine, and students wearing shorts and tank tops, often seems to contribute to the final push between spring break and the end of the semester.

Annually, the return of spring never fails to bring students outside in warm and friendly clusters.

“When it’s the winter time, because I’m inside and cold, I’m really sad and demotivated,” said Winthrop student Brenleigh Dailey, who is majoring in educational studies. “When it’s warm outside, I can tell I’m happier and I want to get stuff done, because I want to be outside.”

Students say moments of warm peace amongst the end-of-semester chaos are important for their mental health.

“I actually went and hammocked this afternoon,” Dailey said, as she squinted in the sun. “It’s one of my favorite things to do on campus, to just sit outside and enjoy the green. It’s such a beautiful campus.”

The freedom to be in a dedicated outdoor space to gather with peers, students say, is a powerful thing when shaking off the last of the cold weather.

“If it’s a good day,” said Winthrop student Seven Pridmore, an English major, “and you’re sitting outside in a hammock, or on the swings, or just at the tables on Scholar’s Walk talking to people, or trying to be productive…I feel like it really helps you, because you can feel the cool breeze or see the sun shining, and get energy from the sun. And so I feel like…the sun energizes you.”

Students say the urge to finish up homework and go play outside is not outgrown.

“I feel like it just makes me less stressed,” said Winthrop student Jessy Gross, an art major. “Instead of spending my free time in the same spaces that I do my work, I get to go outside.”

With the warm weather finally here, all that is left between students and summer break is the final three weeks of classes and exams.