At 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday, cell phones buzzed with a message that the campus was closed due to dangerous weather conditions caused by a region-wide storm. For only the second time in decades, a snow day was declared at The College of Wooster. Cars were encased in a layer of thick ice and the ground was transformed into a slick, glassy surface that sent everyone sliding and skidding around campus.
Many students took advantage of the unusual weather caused by Tuesday night’s storm. Andreja Siliunas ’14 and three of her friends got creative by using the frozen ground of Kauke arch as an ice skating rink. “It was so slippery that ice-skates were more practical than boots,” said Siliunas. Abbas Sabur ’11 and Fernanda Iunes ’11 grabbed their cameras and headed out to take artsy photos of crystallized tree branches and luminous icicles that hung from benches and lamp posts.
While most of the college campus huddled indoors, President Grant Cornwell had escaped northwestern Ohio and was in Morocco. With the president out of town, many others were called on to make the quick decision about whether or not the College could weather the harsh conditions. Those involved in making that call included Provost Carolyn Newton and the Emergency Steering Committee (ESC), chaired by Dean of Students Kurt Holmes. One of the duties of the ESC is to act as an emergency response team in urgent situations. Dean Holmes said that his “Primary concern was safety, we look to maximize the ability for class to proceed, but have to err on the side of closing down if personal safety would be compromised.”
At first Newton thought that classes could continue as normal as long as the campus maintained power. However, as she left her office in Galpin at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, she was shocked by how quickly the conditions had worsened. “It took me 45 minutes to walk home from Galpin, and I felt very fortunate to make it safely home without injury,” said Newton. “I fell many times as I slid home. It was at that point that I realized that we might need to close classes even if we had power.”
While all campus facilities were initially to be closed all day, many, including MacLeod’s Coffee Bar and Mom’s, were open for several hours during the day and Lowry served food until 8 p.m. as usual. In addition to these normal dining and convenience services, a variety of activities, including a popcorn machine, craft tables, Wii on the big screen, board games, a fire and s’mores were provided in Lowry Pit. Rachel Messenger, assistant director for student activities and area director for residence life, was the only Student Activities employee on campus. She enlisted a team of Residence Life staff to make the Lowry Pit activities happen. Even if she had not been on campus on Wednesday, Messenger says she would have still been called on to help out. “I could have been flipping pancakes in Lowry,” said Messenger. “Sometimes we have to rally, so that’s what we do.”
Billy DeNise, the craft vendor from Toledo, had braved the bad weather and set up his stand in Lowry Pit among the craziness of Mario Kart and Connect Four. The snow day turned out to be advantageous for DeNise’s show, which displayed woven hats and bags, metal jewelry, blown glass pendants and many other handcrafted items from around the world. “Since Lowry and the library were the only places to go on campus that day… this set up a ëcaptive audience’ situation so I had a better than average day,” said DeNise. He came to Wooster from Toledo on Tuesday afternoon to avoid the storm that was predicted to worsen as the night progressed. Rather than stay the night in a hotel, DeNise slept in his vehicle. “It actually wasn’t all that cold Tuesday night,” said DeNise, “The ice on the windshield was melting off in the morning all by itself.”
Overall, everyone was impressed with the teamwork that was shown by the campus community. “Wooster has a fantastic group of staff,” said Dean Holmes. “There were grounds people here at 4 a.m. clearing sidewalks. Some food service staff stayed at friends’ homes so they could make it to work on Wednesday. Security and nurses worked overnight shifts.” Director of Libraries Mark Christel was able to open the library due to the willingness of student library staff to work on their “free day.”
Thanks to the effort put forth by the individuals who went out of their way to make sure everything did not come to a screeching halt due to Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s unfavorable weather, The College has survived its second snow day in the past decade.