Spring Break For the Other Side of the School

By Mike Patterson

Everyone has heard students’ stories about their spring break a million times. People go to Cancun, South Padre or South by Southwest. However, what about the people that make their educations possible: teachers staff members and the like? What do they spend their breaks doing?

At Texas State University, faculty and staff use their time away from the worries of work in different ways. Some of the professors like to take it easy or work on personal projects. Members of the staff take vacations that are more typical of the students they serve.

In the department of anthropology, Dr. F. Kent Reilly worked diligently on his new book, Visualizing the Sacred, which is set to be released in the fall. Over the break he was glad to be left alone. “I wasn’t pestered by students and other faculty always knocking on my door,” said Reilly. (Image Right from Texas State Website.

Reilly attempts to “open the portal to the ancient American past.” He has spent several years, and written two other books about the symbolism of past civilizations of the North American Continent. Reilly believes that by understanding the symbols used by these ancient people, we begin to see how they saw their world.

Another professor also spent time working on a book over the break. Marilynn Olson is a professor in the English department, and over the course of the spring break, she finished the third of five chapters to her work. Her book shows the connection between a vanguard painters and the children’s literature of the time.

She points out facts on how the painters innovated and brought new things to the books that had never been seen before. An example would be Pablo Picasso’s work titled “The Golliwogg” was the first black hero in a children’s story. “He wasn’t the first ‘true’ black hero because he was in fact a doll not a person,” said Olson. (Image left from Loco Roco)

In addition, Olson also spent some time in her personal garden, planting flowers.

Staff members took advantage of the break to get away and relax. Robin Woodside, 49, is a worker for Chartwells, the university’s dining service, since the start of this semester.

She and her husband loaded up their RV and left for the beaches of South Padre island. “We were there from Saturday to Saturday,” said Woodside. Woodside collected many starfish, hermit crabs and seashells. They took the sea critters home to the kids and painted the seashells all bright colors. (Image left from Tshirt Magazine)

In the end, everyone has to come back to their normal routines after spring break. Great experiences are clearly had by people on all sides of college life. The funny part is when other students realize that their professors and staff workers have lives outside the school.

After returning to her work at Commons dining hall, Woodside that she saw her on her trip to the same place. “She told me, ‘I knew it! I told the guys that was you!’”