Snow Break Instead of Spring Break
It came as if out of nowhere, a winter storm warning for all of Northern Mississippi that ended up issuing everyone out of in-person classes for up to a week. The warning itself was initially meant to last only until Monday night at 12:00, but the weather had other plans. We had no in-person classes Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday joined in the snowy and icy fun. Thanks to almost constant snowfall until around Wednesday and cold winds and temperatures to help it out, the snow was able to stay until a sunny weekend eventually melted it away. A thin ice sheet had formed under several inches of snow as you could hear or see when crunching it on the ground. Several people went outside to play in the snow or just decided to stay indoors and watch movies. Others also took time to catch up on their work due to more flexibility in their schedules because of the snow week. “Who needs spring break when you have the snow?” the snow seemed to be asking.
But there was one crucial difference between the snow break and spring break. The snow might have stopped the classrooms, but it did not stop the computers or the Internet. Virtual learning went on as the snow week progressed throughout Monday, February 15 to Friday, February 19. Schools may have been closed, but computers and cellular devices were open as both students and teachers took to virtual learning during the snow week. To have relaxation time, some students even finished their schoolwork early. With a week out from physical school, however, there was time for both teachers and students to relax and take a little breather for a bit and catch up on their work. Some felt stranded because of the snow hazard preventing travel due to icy and wintery conditions. At any rate, the snow accumulated to around half a foot high with a thin ice sheet underneath and was a slight reprieve from the tumultuous school year. If spring break was going to be an impossibility this year, a snow break certainly was not.
