Downtown greenville on a warm spring day

Spring Fever is a listless, lazy or restless feeling commonly associated with the beginning of spring. “It’s just the urge to get out,” Junior Ben Voss said.

Students at Brashier have begun feeling the effects of Spring Fever. They want to go outdoors and in the sun. Sophomore Alison Woodard said “it’s kind of been sporadic, everybody wants it to be warm but it’s not yet.”  The old lunch tables have been moved up to the new building so students can be outside again. “It’s started among the student population, people want to get out and do something,” Voss said.

Many say Spring Fever is just the feeling of wanting to get outside after the long winter. Woodard said “everyone’s bored of being inside all winter and tired of wearing jackets and such.” When people think of spring they think of activities and places where they experience the season the most. Senior Taylor Cain, for example, likes to go downtown and said “it’s like you get out and you want to have fun.” Woodard enjoys “sports, hiking [and] bike riding,” and she says she likes to go to Paris Mountain state park.

Students and teachers are affected by spring fever while in the classroom. The students can feel the summer coming and know the year is coming to an end in the spring. Principal Mike Sinclair said there is “less concentration on completing assignments outside of school. Students tend to be up and more active during school.” The teachers see a big change in students as well. Science Teacher Bill Smith said “The kids don’t want to learn anymore.” While Art Teacher David Kesinger stated “[Students are] less likely to be motivated with indoor activities.”

The spring can be fun for students, but teachers are left cramming in material. “Teachers feel the summer coming too, teachers feel more stressed,” Sinclair said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a body change between winter and summer,” Voss said. Doctors have said that Spring Fever is a human reaction to seasonal changes. Some people with SAD, seasonal Affective Disorder, feel Spring Fever because SAD is a depression and mood disorder that emerges during the fall and winter months but fades during the spring. “The darker shorter days of winter make our bodies need more sunlight,” Sinclair said. “It’s in our blood,” Cain said.

No matter what Spring Fever is, there is no doubt it’s a phenomenon. It shows up in love poems, stories, and classic literature like “when proud-pied April dress’d in all his trim hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,” from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 98.” Spring Fever is a feeling all have known at one point of another. “It’s contagious,” said Voss.