GW students will have a fall break in 2016, according to the academic calendar.

GW added the break, Oct. 24 to Oct. 25, 2016, to the academic calendar Tuesday morning. Student Association Sen. Thomas Falcigno, CCAS-U, who has helped to lead the push for the break, said the University approved the addition of a fall break to the academic calendar last week.

The change comes after nearly a year of discussion in the Student Association Senate. Falcigno said he and Sen. Alyssa Weakley, SoB-U, researched schools similar to GW and discovered that many of them included fall breaks in their calendars.

“We also found that there’s an uptick of people who visit [counseling services] in October,” Falcigno said. “It’s good for mental health, it’s an opportunity to go home and rest if possible.”

Falcigno added that he and Weakley were part of the University group which creates the calendar, which also includes representatives from the Office of the Registrar, the Center for Student Engagement and some faculty. He said this was the first time in recent memory that students were part of the committee.