This semester has been one for the record books.

We haven’t been short on big events and news, to say the least.

We broke a fall enrollment record at 36,001 students.

We started off the academic year with the loss of a beloved ISU men’s basketball coach, and the gain of a new one, who is also expected to deliver a high-voltage performance this season, and is off to a good start.

A protest that ended in a poster being ripped and a nationally-trending hashtag kicked a semester-long string of events and emotional campus wide conversation, that will lead into the next semester and years to come.

Football fans must also learn to love a new head coach, as former ISU head coach Paul Rhoads was asked to end his seven-year ISU career this season.

A rumor struck fear into the hearts of all when someone thought it’d be funny to tell everyone the white squirrel was dead. He’s still alive.

Campus has been infiltrated by numerous political candidates pleading for our bid.

Iowa State hired its very first Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Reginald Stewart.

The statue of George Washington Carver was vandalized.

A student died on the railroad tracks.

All of this on top of regularly-occurring stresses from classes, extracurriculars and balancing a social life, it’s no wonder campus needs a sigh of relief, and winter break is thankful quickly approaching to provide us a well-deserved rest.

A lengthy list of tasks and goals has emerged since these events, especially regarding the diversity forum and discussions swirling through campus. President Steven Leath released a statement to the university about steps he and administration plan to take to improve the status of discrimination on campus, including: ISU Police assigning Officer Dwight Hinson, and two other ISU Police officers as liaisons to Multicultural Student Affairs to establish a strong partnership with Iowa State’s multicultural community; University Museums developing a plan to relocate multicultural artwork to more visible areas on campus; additional training for police and ISU faculty and more.

The university is also still adjusting to the increasing enrollment, a constant constriction to everyday life that almost gets brushed aside because of all the other goings on around the community. Administration is in constant adaptation to accommodate to the students, and always trying new ideas to ensure students have a place to sit in class and sleep at night.

Needless to say, it’s been a hectic semester. Everyone has felt it, from students on up to the top office in Beardshear Hall.

Break is needed. It’s needed to digest this semester, to prepare for the next. Given all the occurrences from this semester, the next spring semester is crucial to the future of Iowa State. And each part of the ISU community needs to work together.

So use break as a time to recharge and reset. Come back to next semester ready to get to work on all the things we’re talking about doing this semester.