Winter quarter— the neglected middle child sandwiched in between the academically driven yet exploratory eldest child we know as fall quarter and the wild and spontaneous youngest child that we call spring quarter. When we look at the family that is our academic year, we tend to forget winter quarter, who is tucked away in the library for most of the time studying for midterm season, which lasts approximately eight weeks.

Winter quarter has a bad rap; yes, it may not be the most exciting time, but it has its upsides. Most of the differences between winter quarter and fall and spring quarter are seen as disadvantages, but I’m here to argue the opposite. So here is a list of some of the overlooked perks of winter quarter:

The weather!

Winter quarter is like goldilocks preferred version of porridge. Fall quarter is far too cold and spring quarter is far too hot. Maybe this is the Pacific Northwest side of me talking, but consecutive 60 degrees days is my ideal temperature; I love the idea of being able to hang out in the sun without worrying about having to put on sunscreen or something to tan in.

Our campus!

Many may argue with me on this point, but I truly believe our campus is most beautiful during this point of the year. Whether it is the blossoming buds of the cherry trees in the Campisi/Sanfilippo quad, the lighting that hits the green between Mayer and O’Connor, or the view of our campus from The Sky Lounge, our campus is breathtaking this time of year.

Activities on campus!

Because there isn’t a lot happening *off campus* there are so many fun activities to take advantage of during winter quarter. For me, winter is the quarter that I yell “SCO COS” most frequently, many of which are at our basketball games. Although I wish we had more school spirit when it comes to sports, our basketball games are always fun but chill; for example, the other day, I had a free hour before an event, so I called up a friend we walked all of 200 yards to Leavey and caught the last half of a basketball game. Another example of an event that makes winter quarter #amazing is Rainbow Prom! Back when I was a wee lil freshman, I was doubting whether SCU was really the place for me; Rainbow Prom helped me see that there was a community at SCU that made me proud to be a Bronco.

Although winter quarter is notoriously the “worst” quarter at SCU, I wanted to advocate for this poor middle child and point out some of its forgotten advantages.