The anticipation of a snow day is a key aspect of every student’s childhood. Everyone has their own tradition, whether it’s staying up all night, doing a snow dance or throwing ice cubes onto the street (or maybe that was just me), and the prospect of sleeping in, not going to school and playing in the snow is unparalleled. Plus, constantly checking for updated Pencil Predictions keeps MoCoSnow in business.

By this point, almost every student in the country has experienced a good amount of distance learning. While not as effective as in-person classes, the pandemic has shown us that virtual classes are indeed possible when on campus learning is deemed unsafe. And although snow days (and the Upper School pipe bursts that happen every few years) could be replaced with Zoom classes, they ought to be preserved for the memories they bring and lessons they teach.

The short break snow days provide are always a pleasant surprise. During a dark pandemic winter, everyone needs a bit of time to relax and decompress. But even in future years, school will still be stressful, and students should be able to enjoy the snowy winter weather with their friends, family and pets. Enjoying the snow with neighborhood friends has resulted in some of my all time favorite memories.

Thus, as middle and high school students continue to have work assigned on snow days, the days of become great time management exercises. Students must balance their sleep, school work and socialization. (Hint: sleep in an extra hour, start your schoolwork before 10 a.m. and save the entire afternoon for going outside.)

And just for the record, if we wanted to get rid of snow days in exchange for virtual classes, we would have already done so. Contrary to popular belief, Zoom was founded in 2011, not 2020.