In recent weeks snow and ice has fallen on and off in Dry Fork, Virginia. Due to this sudden change in weather, schools in the area have had to shut down operations. The closing of schools has affected students,  athletes, and club members. 

Many events have been canceled due to snow. Concerning the closing of athletic events, freshman Tavion Davis  said, “It’s a disappointment for real, but I’ll be okay.” 

Monday, Feb. 7, the county was given an unexpected day off due to icy roads. At first a two hour delay was called, but the plans were changed right as school was about to start. Having this extra day off from the weekend did not have a terribly strong impact on most schedules. The county decided to make the small break a banked day, or a day that does not have to be made up due to banked hours accumulated during the school year.

Even though the closing of events had negative effects on the athletic department, there are also upsides to the situation. Athletes were able to take a break from possibly overwhelming amounts of conditioning and practice. Sports can become very busy, especially when the season is nearing its end. 

Although students participating in school activities were seemingly affected the most, all members of THS were affected by the recent shifts in weather. Some students of THS did not enjoy the week-long break. Being snowed in and not being able to socialize with friends and family was a massive problem in some cases. 

On the other hand, some were hardly affected by the break, and many students enjoyed the break. “I wasn’t affected at all. I just stayed inside due to the cold,” freshman Taylor Pyrtle said. 

Due to the many snow days during the past couple of weeks, calendars were changed to make up for the missing week of work. Students were assigned paper packets and/or activities on Google Classroom, and two of the days were considered remote learning  days. 

 February 21, 2022, a day that was once going to be a holiday for both students and teachers, will now be a school day due to this calendar change. 

Missing days have pushed teachers as well as students back in the curriculum. “It definitely put us behind a chapter,” Ms. A. Brown said concerning the missing school days, “We had to take out a couple of assignments to make back the progress that we lost.” Given these circumstances, students and teachers have to work a bit harder in order to stay on schedule after snow days. Although work load is increased, remote learning during snow days loosens some of the pressure and stress of being behind in the curriculum.