Students Sacrifice for Weekender

With the CAL game landing on a Thursday this year, students are faced with the difficult decision to choose between business and pleasure.

Seniors like Will James say classes or no classes, "game on!"

"I have to miss my afternoon classes today in order to go," James said. "It's my senior year. I would have rathered the game was on the weekend, but I am definitely going to go on the Weekener for my senior year."

For others, the decision wasn't so easy.

"I wasn't able to miss my Friday classes, so I couldn't go," freshman Ben Badower said of the Thursday match-up. "I was so disappointed because I would have gone if it were on a Saturday."

But some students say they are heading up north anyway, even if they have to miss the game all together.

"I am going up for the weekend, not for the game," Ryan Bates, USC junior said. Bates said he couldn't miss his Thursday classes, but he's flying up on Friday anyway.

"Most of the people are missing my class tomorrow, so the teacher, thankfully cancelled it."

And Bates' professor is not the only one cutting students some slack. Class cancelations and the rescheduling of midterms is something that professors seem to be OK with this week.

Norberto Grzywacz is the head of the biomedical engineering department, and teaches a class on tissue engineering. Grzywacz decided to turn the class midterm into a take-home exam when he realized much of his class would be gone for the game.

"We tried to change the schedule of the exam, but we couldn't. Everybody is taking too many classes," Grzywacz said. "I really wanted the students to enjoy [the weekend]. If they wanted to go to the game, then why not?"

One thing is for sure, students are already fired up for the 2012 Weekender. Sophomore Emily Tat says, "I am definitely going next year."