Students enjoy snow days, use them to catch up and relax

By: Tony Davis

A Toyota truck makes its way down Queen Street during Wednesday’s snowstorm, which shut down educational institutions across the province. (Tony Davis)

Sara MacDonald is a first year Holland College student. She said she enjoys snow days because she lives in town and can usually still get around Charlottetown even when the streets are snow covered.

“I feel like people in the country don’t like the snow days because they have to drive in town. I like to use snow days to get caught up. I think they are important because if you live in the country you can’t be driving.”

School was cancelled Island wide Wednesday as the province was hit with 10 cm of snow followed by ice pellets and freezing rain.

UPEI student Cohen Reddick-Stevens is from Cole Harbour, NS. He is used to the Atlantic Canadian weather.

“Sometimes throughout the day snow days can get boring, but the snow usually clears up and you can get out in the evening. I can’t complain about them,” Reddick-Stevens said.

“Everybody likes a snow day, nobody can complain about getting to sleep in especially if you have an 8:30 that day,” says UPEI student Cohen Reddick-Stevens. (Tony Davis)

Daniel Wartman is in his fourth year at UPEI. He said snow days can be tricky to deal with, especially for professors who may have a tight syllabus to stick to.

“When there is a snow day students often get the brunt of it, they are told their deliverable is still due Friday, now you just have to do it without a lecture.”

Wartman says the best thing to do is talk to your professor. “Talk to your professor and get as much information as you can, because really we are all in this together and we are trying to get through it. It is the nature of living this far up North.”

The decision to close UPEI is not taken lightly.

“However, in weather situations where the potential risk to UPEI’s students and employees as well as property are high, the University may close, meaning classes and exams are cancelled and services are reduced,” UPEI wrote in a press release.

A disclaimer attached to the UPEI issued release states, “Technically, UPEI is only closed completely in extreme circumstances, as there are essential personnel who need to work on campus and we have students living in residence. However, the University will use the word “closed” to communicate to the campus community that classes and most services are suspended.”

How will I know if UPEI is closed?

The University uses a number of different channels to communicate storm closures.

These include:

-A message on the home page of upei.ca.

-An email via the mass notification system, UPEI Emergency Alert, to all students, faculty, and staff to their upei.ca email account.

-Tweets from University’s Twitter account @UPEI.

Media outlets (radio, TV, and print news websites) .

-A message is placed on the UPEI Campus Closure and Alert Phone Line (902-894-2882).

-A message is placed on the UPEI Campus Screen network (there are screens in several buildings across campus).

When will I know if UPEI has decided to delay opening?

-When conditions develop outside of normal operating hours, announcements will be made according to the following schedule:

-6:30 am: The decision to delay opening the University will be made on or before 6:30 am. If there is a delay, there will be a further announcement at 10:00 am.

-10:00 am – The decision to open the University at 12:00 pm or again delay opening will be made on or before 10:00 am. If there is a further delay, the next announcement will be made at 2:00 pm.

-2:00 pm – The decision to open the University at 4:00 pm for evening classes or close the University for the remainder of the day will be made on or before 2:00 pm.