Student Commuter Not Pleased With Driving in Bad Weather

By: Emily Fehrman

As amazing as Hutchinson Community College can be, it has a downside, to the students anyway.

The college has been known for not canceling classes on snowy or icy days.

To the students, not only those who walk from the dorms, it’s sometimes a dangerous drive that they have to make, especially if they have to drive on highways.

In the opinion of a few students, they believe that the cancelation of classes last Thursday was to make up for not canceling on Wednesday. Roads and weather conditions were shoddy that Wednesday. By noon on Thursday – the day classes were cancelled – everything was melted and the sun was shining, unlike the day before where the freezing drizzle and sleet were still coming down pretty heavy throughout the whole day.

Typically, those who attend Hutchinson High live within city limits. Since it’s in town, the roads are usually in better condition.

Brooke Livingston, Pretty Prairie sophomore, is one of those students who makes the daily commute to HutchCC. Livingston is about 35-40 minutes from Hutchinson, so her drive is often long, but when the roads are bad it’s makes the drive even worse. Sometimes even dangerous.

On more than one occasion, the roads aren’t yet cleared or salted properly before students have to make the drive to town, which has led to sliding off road, sliding through stop signs/lights, and even getting into wrecks.
Here is a Q&A with Livingston, on her thoughts commuting when roads are shoddy.

Hutchinson Collegian: In your opinion how rare is it for HutchCC to cancel classes?

Brooke Livingston: Canceling classes seems extremely rare

HC: Was it a big shock that classes were canceled Feb. 7?

BL: I was very surprised that classes were cancelled last week, I was fully expecting to have to drive to class on ice.

HC: Do you think that they mainly canceled class on Thursday to make up for not canceling the day before? Seeing how the roads were worse the day before.

BL: I’m sure they thought it was going to be worse the second day than the first, so yeah I expect they cancelled due to the day before.

HC: You live outside of town. Would you consider it being worth it to drive to campus when the roads are bad?

BL: Absolutely not worth it. I’m always so disappointed when I drive all the way to Hutch and find that a class is cancelled, although part of me is always super excited about it.

HC: Do any of your instructors ever get upset that you have to miss a class due to the weather, if you’ve had to miss any or know of their policy? Some teachers are pretty chill when it comes to being late or not being able to make it if the roads are really bad, even if campus is still open.

BL: My instructors are pretty chill so they don’t mind if I miss class.

HC: Was it a relief when they canceled class on Thursday?
BL: It was absolutely a relief when they cancelled classes on Thursday. It meant I could sleep in until I had to go to work.

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