By Matheus Pauli, Correspondent
Over the past two weeks, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Communications announced two campus and Flight Training Center closures, two delayed openings, and one early release due to severe weather conditions. According to emails, “Predictions call for rapidly deteriorating weather throughout the day, including freezing fog and high winds” and “Current forecasts indicate 70+ MPH winds gusts along with accumulating snowfall.”
These winter storms affected on and off campus residents differently. Main roads often have priority over smaller residential areas when being cleared, so many off-campus residents struggled to get to campus after the storms.
Josiah Neese, a first-year student living off campus, told Horizons, “I am partial towards full campus closures. Often when the school announces delayed starts, the road conditions near my house are still less than ideal. I understand the need to maintain the class schedule, however staying at home also gives me the opportunity to get ahead on upcoming assignments and review the work done in class during previous weeks. For the next storm, staying productive is my biggest concern.”
On-campus resident Jacob McDonell expressed a similar sentiment. “While missing class content is never great, the snow days were a relief. They gave me an opportunity to catch up with my work, without mentioning that they also allowed me to relax since classes have been getting tougher the past few weeks and spend some quality time with my friends.”
Professor Amberly Neese, when asked about the impact of snow days, said the following: “Had I known that we would have this amount of incremental weather this semester, I would have prepared more online classes so that my students don’t need to play catch up so often in my classes.”
With more snow forecasted this semester, it is important to remember that the safety of students is always the priority, and the time spent away from the classroom is always a fantastic opportunity that advantage off should be taken. Always remember that your safety comes first – if you don’t think you can safely make it to class, don’t go.
