(Baltimore Sun)
By: Emmy Ribero
Howard County has been experiencing snow storm after snow storm for the past two weeks, with more expected to come. The snow storm excitement, however, has not been present this year. With school being virtual, the anticipation of snow has lessened. This does not mean that students can’t celebrate having snow just as they normally would. Sledding, building a snowman and having snowball fights with friends aren’t cancelled this year too!
A popular sledding spot happens to be a central location for everyone. The River Hill football field has an excellent, steep hill that is close to every student. If the roads are safe enough, this location is a great spot to meet with friends and take advantage of the slick and icy snow that Maryland winters usually accumulate. Additionally, this is also a good way to meet with friends in a socially distant way while wearing masks and getting out of the house. There is also a great hill behind Folly Quarter Middle School, another good location for meeting with friends to go sledding.
Building snowmen and snowball fights are recommended for the first few days of the snow storm because the snow is nice and soft. The days following are more icy and harder to build with. Not to mention, that if you were to have a snowball fight on a more icy day, it would hurt your opponent more. However, these first days are not the best sledding snow, it will be the slowest days on the sled, but hurt the least if you were to wipe out.
The board of education has not been giving any snow days to students this year, which does not mean that you can’t have fun in the snow. Carolyn Cullen, a senior, says “I don’t think students should get off of school for snow days this year, there’s really no reason for it. But it would be nice if the school board were to throw us a bone.” Some students believe that snow days should be given this year for no other reason than for student morale. But even if the board doesn’t let us get a day off, there is a long 2 hour break in the middle of the day and after school when you can enjoy the snow. Some people also believe that snow days should be given, with the excuse that power can go out in many large neighborhoods. If there was a large power outage in the county, the board would give the snow day.
Even if there isn’t a day off, this should not stop people from making the most of the winter weather. The flexibility of virtual school allows for people to have the time in their schedule to do fun activities outside, so students should take advantage of this and have the snow days that they would have gotten in a regular year.