New Year celebrations have differed across the world and throughout time, but nearly every celebration ends with New Year’s resolutions.

The practice of making resolutions for the new year is thought to have first caught on among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot, according to history.com

The types of promises they made typically reflected a promise to pay off old debts or any borrowed items to their rightful owners.

Today, we make what could be considered to be much more drastic promises such as giving up drinking or smoking, or vowing to lose weight.

Stephanie Wright, a sophomore, said her New Year’s resolution is to work out at least four times a week in preparation for summer. “I think it’s important to make these promises to ourselves to help keep us on track,” Wright said.

Others focused their resolutions on school or a job. “My New Year’s resolution is to graduate with honors from Eastern in 2016,” senior Scott Wren said.

Freshman Kayla Watkins said she plans on getting promoted in the New Year. “I plan on working hard and moving up at work this year,” Watkins said.

Even though the tradition of New Year’s resolutions has been passed down for generations, there are people who do not believe in making a grand promise to themselves because a year has come to an end.

Senior Josh Hoover stated he has never participated in adopting a New Year’s resolution nor does he ever plan to. “I try to better myself year-round; the start of a new year has nothing to do with it,” Hoover said.

Community member Nick Holden agreed with Hoover and said he does not see the point in making a promise he will probably give up on in two weeks anyway.

Though resolutions for the new year may be the most celebrated worldwide, citizens of the United States have their own tradition to ring in the new year. This is done by dropping a giant ball in Times Square at the stroke of midnight. According to the official website of Times Square NYC, millions of people around the world have been watching this live event since 1907.

Sophomore Yuki Hosokawa is an international student from Japan and he chose to spend New Year’s in New York so he could experience this phenomenon he had heard so much about. Hosokawa said it far surpassed his expectations and was glad he attended.

Celebrating the start of a new year is a part of history and will continue to be acknowledged across the world for many more years to come.