A massive storm created a winter wonderland on HU’s campus.

By Thad Arnold, Staff Writer 

During the first week of February, in-person classes were canceled on Huntington University’s campus for three days, but for once, this closure was unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, classes had been canceled due to extensive snowfall. Dubbed winter storm Landon, this snowstorm shut down roads and highways across the state and made it dangerous for professors, commuters, and other staff to drive to campus.

Some students chose to drive back home before the snow arrived, but others who stayed knew they had an opportunity to take advantage of enjoying these rare “snow days” to the fullest.

On Thursday, February 3, a group of seven boys from Baker 2nd went sledding on the hill near the baseball field. Ethan Hardy, a sophomore at HU, had brought his sled from home. Once they discovered some more sleds in the floor’s storage closets, the obvious conclusion was a few hours of snowy fun.

“It was hard to get the trails started at first, but once we did, it was really fast,” said Hardy. “It was a really fun time.”

Hardy added that sledding was a great floor-bonding activity “because, on those snow days, you can’t really drive anywhere.” 

Meg McDonald was one of several girls from Livingston 2nd who also went sledding, but they could not find enough sleds for everyone. The solution? Trays from the Dining Commons. 

“We asked the DC workers… and they said ‘yes’ and that those trays had been sledded on several times,” said McDonald. 

The Livingston girls had the advantage of not being the first ones to sled down the hill, so the snow was already packed down and slippery.

“They had also made ramps so you would get to the bottom of the hill and just launch yourself,” McDonald added.

Others found more creative ways to enjoy the wintery weather. A group of boys from Wright spent hours constructing an “igloo” in front of Baker-Roush. Kyle Shaw, a senior, got the idea a few years ago when he realized he could use snow to build around one of the many coves with benches on campus.

Shaw and his friends experienced a crash course in outdoor winter construction.

“Originally, I thought we maybe could just do it with all snow, but that was definitely not going to work because it was just falling in on itself.” shared Shaw. 

Shaw and the others soon realized that wood was the missing element in their plan: “We had guys … going to the woods and bringing back sled-loads of sticks.”

The Wright boys created a base layer of sticks and stacked pine and snow on top of that. After four or five hours of hard work, with a dinner break in-between, the “igloo” was finished.

“It kind of worked out better than I thought it would,” Shaw commented. 

Shaw, who is currently student teaching in an elementary school, just so happened to have been thinking about igloos with his students the day before.

“They were saying there was nothing to do outside, so I showed them pictures of igloos and stuff like that,” said Shaw. He then realized the three days off “might actually be a good time to try and do this.” 

Whether elementary school or college, a proper snow day can bring out the kid in all of us.