For many students, spring break is a time to either return home for a week or travel to a vacation destination. Some students, however, cannot reach their mother’s home-cooked meals or Fort Lauderdale’s beaches.

Some students stayed at The Hill.

“A lot of other people have gone for spring break, so someone had to work. That was my philosophy behind it,” Hannah Wilson, a junior from Muhlenberg County, said with a laugh.

Wilson supervises, works the control desk and the fitness center and teaches exercise classes at the Preston Center. She spoke while working and joking with some of her Preston coworkers, saying they’re all so wonderful she doesn’t want to leave.

“I have two jobs actually, so it’s really hard to take off from both of them at the same time,” Wilson said, who also works as a receptionist at a nearby hotel.

“I’ve worked like 80 hours this week,” she said. “I’m going there right after this. Pray for me.”

Louisville junior Zachary Miller also spoke on the job at the Preston Center.

“I’m here to make money and not spend money,” Miller said. “I’ll be here for nine straight days.”

Miller shared how he had adjusted to the long work hours as he scanned student ID’s for locker rentals.

“It hasn’t been bad,” he said. “March Madness is going on right now so I’m pretty entertained. I live and die for sports. The coworkers keep me entertained as well. They’re fun to talk to.”

Miller had three television screens with three different basketball games playing as he worked. He commented on the emptiness of the center.

“It’s probably the most quiet you will ever see Preston Center,” Miller said. “If you want to work out in peace and quiet with no interruptions, just stay here for break.”

Moriah Ashley, a second-year graduate student from Grayson County, is also a student worker on campus. She spent the majority of her spring break working at the computer lab in Mass Media Technology Hall.

“It’s been pretty dead,” Ashley said about the lab. “I think the most people we’ve had is like 10. Typically the least number we’ll have at a time is around 30 or 40. Pretty big difference.”

Ashley said she did an internship for three days, but she spent the majority of her time in the lab.

“Other than that, I’ve been doing job interviews, spring cleaning and Netflix,” she said. “I’m watching Nashville. I literally just started it today. Everyone is mad at the show, so I was like, ‘I should probably watch it to figure out why.’”

Megan Griggs, a senior from Logan County, spent her spring break in Bowling Green for much different reason than work.

“I’m actually doing student teaching,” Griggs said. “So, my spring break is different than Western’s spring break. I don’t get a break until April.”

Griggs plans on teaching students between kindergarten and fifth grade, so she spent her week at a local elementary school.

“Even though there’s no classes, I haven’t really had a lot of spare time because I’ve been working on so many lesson plans,” Griggs said.

Aside from obligations, some students didn’t return home because home was too far away, like Andrew Teal, a senior from Detroit, or Susan Odoom, a junior from Ghana.

“For the first part, I went on a trip to Nashville with my department in the business college,” Odoom said. “We visited a few companies there, and they spoke to us about work etiquette and things like that.”

Odoom said she has not done much aside from that.

“I’ve been working the rest of the time,” Odoom said. “When I’ve not been working, I’ve just been chilling. There hasn’t been a lot to do.”

No matter the reason for staying on The Hill, most of the students who shared their break experiences said they would recommend doing something else for spring break.

“If you have the opportunity to do something fun, you might as well do something fun,” Wilson said. “If you don’t have that opportunity, you can stay here and have a good time still. However, while you’re young and not in the real world yet, I would recommend going out and doing something for break. Once you get into the real world you might not have the chance to take breaks like this.”

Reporter Bryson Keltner can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected].