What does Labor Day mean?

Okay, this is not going to be about the history of labor (though that would be a great subject to overview), and it's not going to be about the Hallmark-er-ization of holidays (a rant that isn't suitable for this medium). In fact, it's about the mark of time that Labor Day has become for the US calendar. September = school.

Over the last three years, I have been attending "day school" for the apprenticeship, which means going to school for 8 hours every two weeks without fail, barring a handful of holidays that happened to land on my school day. No summer vacation to speak of, and a winter break that meant we went a month instead of two weeks between classes. (And that was always a bummer because it meant that much more time to forget everything we learned in class, and thus a more difficult time preparing for the next test.)

After these three grueling years of "day school" we finally get a summer break, and with said break, it means Labor Day (and all its symbolic time marking capacity) is upon us in full force. School once again starts the day after Labor Day. For me, that's literally the day after Labor Day. I have been assigned Tuesday evenings for my first class in night school, that being Power Quality. We're apparently using the same text book that we studied during book 5 for Power Quality, which is a very good text. I'm looking forward to delving in a little deeper, and getting a better understanding of all the nuances that occur in the power systems that degrade our energy consumption. It's back to electrons, harmonics, semi-conductors and sine waves. Yipee!

Additionally, this year is the beginning of a new responsibility for me. At the end of book 5 all 3rd year apprentices were given the chance to "run for candidacy". The elected position of 4th year representative for the Appeals Board becomes open every year as the current seat holder graduates to fill the 5th year position as a voting member. I made the decision to run, wrote a letter addressing my fellow classmates, and ultimately was chosen to fulfill this duty. I am excited and proud to take part in our organization in a way that offers my time, giving back to a massive structure that has thus far given me so much already.