Students enjoy snow day off

Reid Grandle woke up to go to class Friday morning, groggily got out of bed to take a shower and found a note on his door relaying news that made his day dramatically different than any other run-of-the-mill weekday. Classes were canceled because of the snow. And that meant class snowball fights, a huge snowman on Hill Field, other snow structures in the Quadrangle and a lot of sleeping in. Whichever way they chose to spend their day off, students said they were glad, if sometimes surprised, to have an extra day for play and chores. It was especially exciting for Grandle, though, because he hales from the sunny South. "I like snow because it's beautiful, and I don't get a whole lot of snow where I'm from," the Wharton freshman said. "It was nice to get a ton of it, and, of course, it was nice to have class canceled -- really nice." He was especially appreciative of the short break because he otherwise would have had four classes and a quiz that day. To his great glee, he had a test pushed back three days as well. Still, some students wished classes had been called off on a busier day. John-Ross Cromer was one of these students. He said he was not shocked that school was canceled because, he said, it was typical of the University to cancel classes on a day that Engineering students do not typically have many classes. "I wasn't surprised that school was closed because I only had one class on Friday and engineers never get any breaks at this school, so it just figured that everyone else should get the day off," Cromer said. Other students noted that since Friday is a light class day anyway, their schedules did not change very much as a result of the day off. "I actually don't have class on Friday, so it didn't affect me all that much," College junior Leslie Dubeck said. "But it's always exciting when it snows out, so that was nice." Having gone to sleep without knowing that a storm was in the forecast, she had not expected to find the ground snow-covered in the morning. Nor did she expect to have any visitors that day. But, after her brother's classes were canceled because of the weather as well, he drove in from Washington, D.C. for the day. Despite this unexpected boon and her ability to carry on with her day as usual, she commented that she found herself "stepping in puddles whenever I walked somewhere." Even though the ground was slippery and mounds of snow lined the sides of streets, students said they were more than happy to deal with the snow and fill the gaps left by the cancelation of classes. "I just procrastinated the entire day from doing work, got my laundry done and went and saw Chicago, the movie," College junior Joel Newman said. "I was invited to play in a football game, but I bailed out." A resident adviser in Hamilton College House, he also treated his residents to a celebration breakfast. "It went over very well," Newman said, explaining that the early morning news of canceled classes and the inclement weather made in-house dining especially attractive. "People were very excited." While he found out about the snow day from a friend who is a graduate associate in Harrison College House, other students said the University should have a better way to inform students of school closings. Anyone can call 898-MELT for weather-related updates and the University's Web sites and some college houses' listservs announced that school was closed, but the University itself did not send an e-mail to the entire student body. "I sure as heck didn't get the e-mail that other people got saying that class was canceled," Grandle said, adding that he did not see any signs posted in the Quad either. "They should really send it out to everyone. It would make logical sense." Even if it meant an extra phone call, students said they welcomed the unexpected day off and look forward to the possibility of more in the future. Newman summed up this sentiment in six simple words. "We should have more snow days," he said. And most students said they definitely agreed.