We all know the feeling of excitement snow brings. As students, we have been programmed to look past the misery of the harsh winter because there’s one thing makes all of the inconveniences of winter disappear…a silver lining.

Snow days.

Everybody has been there. You can’t fall asleep until you’ve watched the school cancellations scroll through alphabetical order on the bottom of the screen over a thousand times. Your school isn’t on the list and you and your friends can’t believe it. The only hope is waking up to a white powdery Earth, as a surplus of snow showered down in masses throughout the course of the night.

That night before school, you had only few things on your mind.

What pajamas am I to wear as I bum around all day tomorrow? Which siblings am I going to challenge to a snowball fight? Unfortunately I am brother-less and both of my sisters insisted on making snow angels instead.

Lastly, and potentially the most important, calculating which spot in the yard massed the most snow, because that mound is about to be burrowed into until a grade A tunneling system runs from one end to the other.

So many ideas circulating through your head. Then… there’s that moment.

You get the call from a friend, your mom wakes you up to tell you, or your schools name finally appears under the cancellations, seemingly bursting out of the screen screaming NO SCHOOL. This is the part where your brother does a few laps around the house, or your sister releases that high-decibel screech of a scream that everybody hates, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a snow day.

Nothing else matters.

There are few feelings that can top the emotion of a school cancellation. Not because we hate school, we just appreciate home more. A clean slate for 24 hours, a full day of doing whatever you choose. You can sled all day or relax all day, but the point is you have no agenda…all day long.

Some may think in college, these set of beliefs change because we are mature now and delve further into becoming a scholar. News flash, the excitement and anticipation for snow days has not changed since I was 10. We as college kids react with equivalent excitement, only with a more extensive vocabulary.

So here lies the big question. If there is a snowstorm, and we have school the next day, how on God’s green earth are we not cancelling school? The pleasure of the people is one thing, but safety is a completely separate issue.

Fun fact, in the United States, there are over 1.5 million weather-related car accidents every year.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 24 percent of all annual crashes are weather-related including 220,000 accidents because of snow sleet, 190,000 because of icy pavement and 170,000 crashed because of slushy roads.

Data records show that the Midwest and Plains states have the highest incidence of road-ice related deaths.

In the 2009-2010 winter season, Nebraska tied for 2nd with Missouri for total icy road fatalities (23). Pennsylvania was the highest (26).

Obviously in Wayne we may not get to high enough speeds for a fatal crash, other than 7th Street and Highway 15, but why take the risk?

What happens if we do slide out of control, do everything in our power to prevent a crash, but the collision is inevitable?

None of us college students have money. Hopefully most of us have some type of car insurance, whether it’s full coverage or liability, because if we get in a wreck it won’t be cheap. By not cheap, I mean not affordable.

What about the poor students that have no choice to walk to school? All it takes is one kid to forget to put his thick socks on and fall in a drift on his way to school. Maybe that student also forgot gloves and a hat, even a scarf.

That has frostbite written all over it, all for a 50 minute lecture.

For the commuters, attendance shouldn’t even be an option. If anyone has made the Highway 15 trip during a snowstorm, you can relate. Not only is there a ditch on both sides of you, but the wind gusting across the highway creates uncomfortably low visibility.

Whether it’s for student comradery, the safety of the people, or the good, kind heart of the man who makes the judgment call…if we are in a blizzard, cancel school.
Then walk over to my house, because we will be celebrating.