Winter weather brings stress, anxiety, and school cancellations

By Paige Asberry
Staff Writer

The spring semester at Hutchinson Community College began Jan. 8, but it was not long after students and faculty were back in their pajamas with their alarm clocks turned off.

Multiple snow days are rare in Kansas, but HutchCC enjoyed three of such days in the first weeks of the semester.

While most students likely enjoyed the extra days of break, for some students and teachers, the snow days were slightly more stressful.

For psychology instructor Sydney Fountain, there’s excitement paired with a bit of panic as well. “I tend to have my semester planned before classes even start,” Fountain said,  “and there’s a lot of activities that I wanted to do that are very hands-on, but take up a lot of time. It’s definitely a matter of trying to get creative and figure out how I can do the activity and not miss important content.”

However unlikely it seems that college students would actually be disappointed that classes were canceled, Colorado freshman Riley McRae also was not a fan of not having classes. “Snow days are stressful because I was finally on a schedule and had something to fill my days. I didn’t enjoy it at all,” McRae said. “I quickly got bored and missed coming to school.”

Wichita sophomore Samantha Moore felt similarly during the snow days.

“I had hyped myself up for school, and got bored and restless when it was canceled,” Moore said. “And also the thought of having to catch up on all of the material in my classes stressed me out quite a bit.”

“It definitely throws a wrench in your plans as an instructor, especially in classes where I have so much to cover, I have to figure out how to catch up without going too fast for students to follow,” Fountain said.

Though there may be stress and anxiety surrounding the cancellation of HutchCC classes, Chicago freshman Drake Baker enjoyed the extra few days of break.

“It gave me the chance to hang out and catch up with my friends that I hadn’t seen since Christmas break,” Baker said.

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