NEW WILMINGTON —
Taylor Heinrich didn’t want to turn down his friends’ requests to celebrate Labor Day on Monday. But he had no choice.
Heinrich, a college junior from Brookville, Pa., had class.
Westminster College is one of few colleges that doesn’t shut down for the end-of-summer holiday. So Heinrich was up bright and early Monday, walking cross campus with his friend Dylan Heitmeier.
“Our little Westminster bubble,” as Heinrich called it, was alive like it was any other day. But students had to walk only one or two blocks to be reminded of the holiday they weren’t celebrating. Many of the businesses in New Wilmington were closed Monday.
Going to school on Labor Day is a tradition at Westminster. Mark Meighen, senior director of marketing and communications at the college, said since the school year just began a week earlier, it doesn’t make sense to shut down the campus again so quickly.
“The fall semester traditionally starts at Westminster the week before Labor Day and it wouldn’t be practical to send students home ... after spending four days on campus,” Meighen said.
He noted the college is home to students from 25 states.
The Herald did find one other not-too-far-away college that planned to be in session Monday: Allegheny College in Meadville. Its school calendar noted “most” offices were open.
Heitmeier, from Peters Township south of Pittsburgh, considered school on Labor Day a quirky thing when he started college. “I thought it was against the law,” he said with a laugh. Now a junior, he’s used to it.
“You’re just so accustomed to having the day off,” Heitmeier said. “The teachers have some smart remark like, ‘we should be sleeping, instead we’re here.’ ”
But Emily Lannon of Pittsburgh was trying to take the day in stride. After walking out of the college library on her fifth day of the school year, Lannon pointed out “we kind of have a long Christmas break. I like to think we get it back.”
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