The length of the freshman winter break is our primary reasoning for requesting the Citizen Science program to be shortened. As first-year students who are still adjusting to college life and being away from home for extended periods of time, we feel that we deserve and require a break between semesters that spans an adequate amount of time. I’ve personally spoken to many students who feel homesick and still feel that they are in the transitory process between home life and college life. As much as we love Bard, many of us still don’t feel ‘at home’ here. Of course, that transitory process will only happen with time, but the lack of academic breaks allotted to first-year students at Bard only causes that period of adjustment to decelerate. First-years were required at the beginning of the fall term to leave home three weeks early, and with the minimal winter break that we are allotted, we will have been at Bard for a total of 35 weeks during our freshman year. That’s 6 weeks longer than the average first-year college student. Although we recognize the excellence and necessary longevity of the Language and Thinking Program, we feel that requiring first-year students to leave yet another Intersession three weeks early is overwhelmingly demanding. We feel that the objectives of the Citizen Science program can still be accomplished if the program is shortened by one week, while also satisfying the majority of the freshman class.