Much has been made of today’s college students’ social responsibility, their great relationships with their parents, and their eagerness to collaborate and succeed in the real world. But there’s one thing these so-called millennials still share in common with their gen-Xer ideological counterparts: When it’s spring break, it’s time to let loose. Thousands of area college students have headed off to the beach this month, seeking Florida, the Dominican Republic and Cancun, Mexico as top destinations. The University of Maryland turned into a ghost town Friday afternoon, when even the Washington region’s balmy weather couldn’t compare with boarding a plane southbound. George Mason University and George Washington University students return to class Monday, and Georgetown students just finished their first week back.
But the memories — to the extent the good times allowed them — have remained, said Georgetown senior Danda Greco, 21. Greco and nearly 200 — yes, 200 — friends and friends of friends spent five nights at an all-inclusive resort on the Dominican Republic island of Punta Cana. Spring break deals and decent airfares allowed most of them to spend less than $1,000, she said.
Though the resort advertised itself as a place for “thirtysomethings to get away,” Greco was pleasantly surprised to find that during spring break, it turned into a college-kid boomtown, packed with groups from Villanova, Cornell, Boston College, the University of Connecticut, Penn State and others.
“There was a pool party that got pretty crazy — they got a DJ in there, and I was waiting for the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ camera to show up,” Greco said, referring to the popular video series with the self-explanatory title. “Every college kid at the resort was in the pool at that moment.”
In Florida, Panama City and other Panhandle beaches have gained popularity among partiers in recent years, according to state tourism officials. The shift away from hot spots in the south of the state has been due in part to a Fort Lauderdale advertising campaign shooing wild college kids elsewhere, according to a February report on the youth travel market by research firm Mintel International.
But it’s not as if other beach towns are unprepared for the mayhem, said Carol Dover, president and CEO of Florida’s Restaurant and Lodging Association.
“Hotels have done this rodeo before,” she said. “There’s a certain amount of extra staffing they put up, they beef up security, and a lot of those areas don’t allow under-21-year-olds to rent rooms. It’s not worth it.”
