Campus celebrates day off with snow-filled activities

By DELLA HETHCOX

With a snow covered campus and classes cancelled for the day, University of Mary Washington students hit the hills for a day of fun and winter activities. Students welcomed the snow day on Tuesday, Feb. 17 by using the unexpected day off to catch up on studying or play in the snow.

As excited students were leaving their mid-afternoon classes on Monday, Feb. 16, they were greeted by the a whirlwind of snowflakes, leading to the cancellation of Monday’s evening classes and eventually all Tuesday classes.

Even the University got into the spirit of a snow day by urging students to utilize the hashtag #UMWSnowDay on twitter and Instagram.

Students embraced the surprise day off with child-like enthusiasm. Snowballs, snow angels and snowmen littered the campus – even the statue of James Farmer could be found holding his own personal stash of snowballs in case of a sneak attack.

Emily Simoni, a freshman French major, brought a new twist to playing in the snow.

“I drew a huge taco in the snow in front of Dodd. It said ‘I don’t wanna taco ‘bout it,” said Simoni.

Jordan Wade, a freshman communication and studio art double major, went sledding with friends.

“We found cardboard from the recycling bins and went sledding behind ITCC,” said Wade.

Suzanne Holland, a senior international relations major, took the chance to stay at home and catch up on homework, but took wine breaks while watching re-runs of “Arthur” on YouTube.

“I purposefully went on YouTube and watched it,” said Holland laughing. “It was not on T.V.”

However, some students found the accumulation of snow a nuisance, particularly for the commuter students who were unable to find parking along College Avenue.

Many students had complaints as of Wednesday about the snow-covered and icy sidewalks, particularly the brick sidewalk along William St.

Alaina Zitzmann, a junior English major, found walking from the commuter parking lot to Combs difficult.

“I don’t understand why they can’t clear the sidewalks if the university is open, and it wasn’t even that much snow,” said Zitzmann.

Tess Schwemmer, a senior psychology major and employee at Blackstone Coffee, managed to play and work.

When asked how student customers felt about the snow day, Schwemmer said, “Some of the students were upset because of the lack of place for food. Only Blackstone and Seacobeck were open.”

Schwemmer noted that Blackstone is mainly just for coffee and light food, and not a full restaurant. However, more hot chocolate was purchased Tuesday than normal, Schwemmer said, probably because of all snow related activities.

Schwemmer said that if she could have her dream snow day she would have a bonfire.

More snow is forecasted for this weekend, so why not take the opportunity to try out the recipe in this week’s edition? Or build a blanket fort a la Troy and Abed in “Community” and binge watch your favorite shows while drinking hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

If you prefer to spend time in the snow procrastinating, you can never have too many snow angels or carrot-nosed snowmen.