Before COVID-19 and the school closures that caused the American education to implement virtual learning,  students  used to have snow days. You know, when too much snow causes school to be canceled , but there was no virtual learning either. You didn’t have any homework, no class meetings; you would just be at home relaxing all day until you could finally get out of the house. Those days are over for an entire generation of students–and most likely, all future generations of students as well.Now that Bishop Noll students have these fancy iPads and we can virtual meetings unfortunately snow days no longer exist here at Bishop Noll. Mrs. Pastrick just sends out an email saying, “virtual day tomorrow” and it’s going to say either even or odd classes.

One thing I will say is that I do appreciate the fact that we get out at 12:00 on “snow days”, but why not just have no school? I know teachers don’t want to get up, and an occasional break from staring at a screen for an entire day is sometimes a nice surprise, even if it comes at the cost of dealing with extreme weather . 

“Virtual snow days can benefit both teachers and students by allowing them to rest from work and school,” said senior Amiah Wilson.it’s a time to refresh the mind and relax and be stress free.Some teachers who had to plow or complete snow removal posted,, “no class, enjoy your day and be safe”. Let’s appreciate those types of teachers, please, the ones who are more lenient. 

“I typically go over the lesson for about 10 minutes and I let the students log off and enjoy their day,” said Mr. Melero, math teacher. 

I feel like because “snow days” are like a canceled school day, we shouldn’t have class, we should be able to enjoy our day at home. When we get really bad snow students aren’t able to go outside and snow because they’re in class all morning. I usually work early on Wednesdays and getting out at 12:40 doesn’t give me much time to shovel my car out before leaving the house. Students can’t be in class and shovel, the whole point of snow days is to get shivered and the h one and be able to relax.

I can’t only talk for myself, but I’m sure other students don’t agree. There’s students who may want to be in school 5 days a week and actually enjoy going. There’s also teachers who may want to be in school because they enjoy seeing their students’ faces each day. Mrs. Skurka for example, says she always tells students that she misses them.  Everyone has their own thoughts and feelings about “snow days” now becoming virtual learning days. 

“The benefits of meeting virtual on snow days is that students get a chance to catch up on work so that they don’t fall behind,” said Wilson.

 I totally agree because sometimes sitting in the classroom doesn’t help students concentrate. I, for example, like to be home with my music in the comfort of my bed. Amiah disagrees and says, “ it makes it harder for me because I have more distractions at home and would rather be at school where the work can be explained.”

 Everyone is different when it comes to comfort. Junior Nalaya Ochoa says, “my school days consist of being home in the bed and catching up on work”.At the end of the day, let’s just be blessed that we’re able to still come together with the amazing technology we have!