Emily Zadny
Contributing Writer
In order to lighten their Winter Term class load, some students at North Central College decide to take a class over D-term instead of going home for a six-week-long holiday break.
Others say, “No way!” to staying on campus for the extra time and beat feet out of here as soon as they take their last exam.
Unfortunately, for winter athletic teams, such as basketball, swimming, and wrestling, the only option is to stay on campus due to their competition schedules.
During D-Term, campus is nearly a ghost town. Students taking a class only have three hours a day during the week where they have to be somewhere.
Luckily for athletes, such as members of the women’s basketball team, they have their teammates, which helps them get through the long days.
For the Lady Cardinals, D-Term isn’t all that bad, especially with lots of team bonding activities, practices, and games.
“Getting through D-term when campus is basically deserted is tough, but it’s a good thing I love my teammates,” said sophomore women’s hoops member Anita Sterling. “There’s always the option of going to downtown Naperville to stores like Barnes and Noble so we don’t go crazy just sitting in our rooms all day waiting for practice.”
While it can be lonely when a lot of student’s friends go home for the break, junior Erica Buck points out that there are some perks to being the only people on campus.
“I sort of enjoy having a break from the crowds of people everywhere,” said Buck. “I don’t have to worry about waiting for the washer and dryers in the laundry room or waiting for my favorite shower stall!”
One downside of D-Term is that many students, not just athletes, complain about is the limited hours at Kaufman Dining Hall and the fact that the Cage is not open during the term, but the team has developed their own ways to get around the odd hours and limited food selection.
‘The worst part about having to stay over D-term is dealing with Kaufman’s dining hours and not being able to go to the Cage if we can’t get into Kaufman,” said senior Maryssa Cladis. “But we will have team dinners after every practice usually and we also have a Christmas party at our coach’s house where we have a Secret Santa.”
When the squad isn’t practicing, they sure find ways to keep themselves busy. With this year’s game schedule, the Cardinals will travel to Los Angeles, California to play in a week long tournament during the first part of the term.
“Every two years the women’s basketball team travels somewhere to participate in a tournament,” said Sterling. “This year we will be going to Los Angeles, California the first week of December!”
The team also takes part in a team retreat at a cabin owned by the school in Dixon, Illinois. Here, cellphone service comes at a premium, but serves as a great way to bond as a team and make memories that will last a lifetime.
“I really enjoyed the team retreat last year,” said Sterling. “Behind the cabin are these huge woods. Late at night when everybody was around the fire eating s’mores, my teammate and I snuck off into the woods and started making cracking sounds with the sticks on the ground. We scared everybody half to death! They eventually all went inside and still have no idea that it was us.”
These girls also proved that even on campus, it’s still possible to make fun memories and have stories to share with their teammates and friends.
“My favorite D-term memory was last year in 2013 when we were the only people on campus and we were going to our Coach’s Christmas party,” said Cladis, thinking back to that night in December. “Everything was covered in ice because maintenance wasn’t even there to salt it. We lived in Res Rec and were trying to get up the hill to our cars and we kept falling and slipping because it was so icy! It took us almost ten minutes just to get to the garage alone and because we were laughing so hard at all of us falling down!”
Enjoying the break from the swarm of papers, exams, and projects is a mental vacation in itself for the girls. After conducting a quick poll of the girls, it turned out that Netflix and sleeping-in topped the charts for “Best Out-of-Practice Activities.”
Despite being the lone souls on campus, these ladies show that they can make the best out of any situation and that it isn’t as bad as others make it seem.
“Overall, I definitely think D-term can be boring and drag on but if you try to fill your days wisely, it’ll be worth it,” said Sterling. “Also, while I’m bored to tears over D-term I remind myself how I’d much rather be bored than swamped with a million projects and papers due.”
Despite many student’s distaste for the long, dragging days of D-term, Buck and her teammates remind everyone that it isn’t so bad; that D-term is what you make it and it’s easy to make it great!
“My team and I really love D-term because it’s any athletes dream: all we do is sleep, eat and play basketball,” said Buck. “We are not stressed about classes or homework. We can relax and do what we love most and look forward to D-term every year!”
