There are three things in life that are certain: death, taxes, and students loving snow days. Students from everywhere have their differences, but they bond together over their mutual love for these days off. On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, students had their wish come true and got to experience their first real snow days in a long time.

Over the past two years, snow days were rumored to have become a thing of the past; with the rise of Zoom and virtual days, many students thought they may never see another snow day again.

“I think that snow days need to come back. I was so happy when they decided to change from virtual to just a good old fashioned day off. I know it's not ideal for our faculty and administration, but deep down inside I think everybody loves and needs a snow day every now and then,” said senior Gus Tettamble.

On Tuesday, Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson came on the intercom for afternoon announcements with a special piece of information regarding the rest of the week. Throughout the whole week there were murmurs about snow days and virtual days, but Kesterson gave the whole school a shock with what he said. 

“I had just finished taking Mrs. Kissel’s AP AB Calculus test and let me tell you, it was a hard one,” said senior P.J. Haefer. “We had just finished up with it. And I was like, you know, it'd be nice to just be home, not have to wake up super early and hop on my computer and go through the day. But then they came on with the announcements, and I mean, my class was shocked. We're looking at each other dead silent, and everyone was like, did we just hear that right? And we heard classes on either side of us just erupting and it was pretty crazy.”

Leaving school on Tuesday, students hid a smile underneath their masks as they walked out of the building. The next morning came and students got to sleep in and peek out the window to see the white blanket of snow hugging the ground.

“It was a nice day to sleep in, I woke up at around 9:30 so it was good. I got probably an hour and a half more sleep, maybe two,” said senior Hanks Edwards. “The first thing I did was, I remember the night before that it was going to snow, so I didn't open my window, but I pulled the shades up so I could see the snow. I was sleeping in my Groundhog Day SLUH shirt, the tank top that they sold on Monday. And I was like I need to wake up so I ran out my back door and I jumped in the snow. It was pretty cold but it woke me up pretty fast.”

“Pure joy just came across my eyes. Literally all I saw was just white fluffy snow across the street. And I felt just like a little boy,” said senior Will Fitzgerald.

After waking up to a winter wonderland, students layered up and hunkered down, preparing to brave the cold temperatures of the winter morning.

“So first off, I woke up and my mom made me some biscuits and gravy, then I put a fire in the fireplace. I mean, my family kind of hunkered down for a little bit. And then after about an hour or two I got up, got ready and went outside with my dog and my siblings. Something I really haven't been able to do in a while. I came back in and my mom made me some hot cocoa. Then I went sledding at Forest Hills,” said Haefer. “It was awesome. It took me back to the good old days of fourth and fifth grade.”

Edwards summarized the whole thing up flawlessly with his final thought:

“There’s nothing better than a perfect snow day.”