New Year’s Day is a holiday known for two things: a day off from work and resolutions. People make a variety of resolutions and inevitably fall into one of two categories: the ones who keep their resolutions and the ones who don’t.

What about the students at UMass Lowell? What type of resolutions did they make this year, if any, and have they kept them? Do they have any plans to make new resolutions in 2015?

Justine Holt, a senior English major, says she makes resolutions and she did make one this year. “I resolved to be better to myself,” she said.

Holt said she feels like she has kept this resolution as she wanted to be healthy and her health has “definitely taken a turn for the better.” She has not decided if she will make any resolutions in the coming year as she said, “I’m pretty content.”

While Holt managed to keep her resolution and find contentment, other students were concerned with getting fit.

Sylvester Sterlin, a junior accounting major, said his resolution was to get back on his fitness plan. “I didn’t do it,” he said. “It was very on-and-off.”

Sterlin said he does plan to make resolutions for the New Year. “I’m going to get back on my fitness plan and do well in school,” he said.

Some students are trying to get fit and be healthy by eating better. That was the resolution made by Chelsea Graham, a senior English major.

Graham said she sometimes makes resolutions. However, she was not able to keep the one she made for 2014.

“This year I wanted to eat better, but that didn’t work out,” she said. “I try to sneak a fruit or veggie into every meal, but that doesn’t always work because I go to college.”

As for resolutions for the coming New Year, Graham said she might not make any as “most people tend to forget about them quickly.” If she does, she said it will be something easy.

“I’ll find reasons to be happy every day,” she said. “I don’t have to force myself to do that.”

While following fitness plans and eating better are certainly ways to achieve a healthy lifestyle, getting healthy can also involve giving up a vice. Jake Kinsman, a senior computer science major, made the decision to give up smoking.

Kinsman said his last cigarette was March 27. He made the resolution along with another one to eat better. “I didn’t keep that one,” he said. “Every year I actually follow through with one.”

Kinsman said he was planning on making a resolution for the coming year. “I have lungs that work so time to start exercising,” he said.

While being healthy and eating better was part of her plan for this year, Becca Crivello, a junior music studies major, was also setting a goal for “general happiness.”

Crivello said she has been eating healthy “about 50 percent of the time.” However, there have been times throughout the year when she has not eaten well at all.

“This past year has been pretty stressful with coming back to school and furthering my studies, but overall I’ve felt pretty happy,” she said.

Crivello said she is planning to make a few resolutions for the New Year including overall maintenance of her well-being. Her main concern for the coming year is finding a job.

“I need to start looking for a summer job in professional music,” she said. “It’s time to think about actually teaching.”