Most college students view spring break as a perfect cure for the "winter blues."While some lie low at home, many students migrate south for warm weather and some drunken debauchery.

The history of spring break and how it came to be what it is today may surprise you.

The Colgate University swim coach, Sam Ingram, decided to take his team to train at Casino Pool in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in 1936. The pool opened in 1925 and became Florida's first Olympic-size pool.

The next year, the city held a swim forum and invited college swim teams from across the U.S.

Fort Lauderdale's popularity subsequently grew quickly over the years.

The city's reputation exploded in 1960 with the release of "Where the Boys Are."

The movie illustrates four Midwestern college women on spring break in Fort Lauderdale.

Over the next two decades, the spring break scene became raunchy and reckless, with PDA, dirty dancing, wet T-shirt contests, balcony diving and considerable damage to local life.

In 1985, Fort Lauderdale city officials decided the spring break visitors caused more damage than benefit to the economy. At one point, the city even purchased a riot tank in case of booze-driven chaos.

The spring break scene shifted to Panama City, Fla. and Daytona Beach, Fla. where locals welcomed students as a vital source to their economy.

In 1986, MTV launched its first spring break broadcast from Daytona Beach. Mexico and other international spring break destinations became popular in the late 1980s and 1990s as airfare became more affordable.

Spring break safety awareness grew in the 1990s. Universities began distributing 'safe break bags' which included condoms, sex-assault manuals, sunscreen and other items.

Spring break popularity grew in the U.S. through modern transportation, movies, swim teams, advertisements and MTV. But the concept of spring break dates back to ancient rituals of the Greeks and Romans.

Spring, the season of fertility, was a time where young people would get inebriated celebrating Dionysus or Bacchus, Greek and Roman gods of wine. The spread of Christianity halted these ritual.s

Is spring break a constantly evolving human tradition? Or is it just an excuse to let loose with limited moral standards? I'll let you decide.  

Photo by Maureen Stephan

 

By Colleen O'Brien

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