The week of February 15th -19th struck Texas with a record average of 3.36” of snow, making this the first time in history that the entire state was under a Winter Storm Warning. As one of the closest states to the equator, Texas is known for being one of the hottest states in the United States, yet citizens saw a snowstorm that left Texas in shambles. This unprecedented storm gave Champion High School students—as well as many other schools and districts statewide—a week off of school.
Although this storm was an academic break for many students, some were occupied by dealing with the effects of the snow. On February 16, at least 4.5 million citizens in Texas were without power. Many Champion students also went several days without running water, some resorting to melting snow.
“We didn’t have a good source of water from Tuesday-Saturday. It was only [February 22] that we got told we no longer had to boil our water for it to be safe,” said junior Lauren Mahnke. “The worst part was not being able to shower or anything, so I guess I’m pretty lucky if that’s the worst I had to deal with, because I know many had a lot more serious issues. My manager at work had a pipe burst and it caused his whole ceiling to collapse in on itself, so he still doesn’t have power.”
Since there was no school, some students found it more difficult to return to their academic routine after a week off.
“It was difficult [not] only to motivate myself to work but also to find the opportunity to do so with the power outages and increase workload from teachers trying to play catch-up,” said junior Wyatt Whiting.
Conversely some students found this extra break a good time for work.
“It was nice to have more time to do my already late work, but the snow was refreshing. You can’t complain about another winter break.” said Junior Riley Barton.
Teachers also had something to say on the topic of schoolwork over the ‘snowmageddon’.
“I think children can’t concentrate on schoolwork when they are worried about basic things like survival. Kids that don’t have water and kids that didn’t have electricity, schoolwork was the last thing on their minds when they are cold and hungry,” said Mrs. Pelletier, science. “So I think most teachers definitely understand that and we were all giving grace and were very understanding about getting assignments in during that period.”
These power outages affected some students’ ability to complete their school work increasing stress over late assignments.
“The electricity would go back and forth between being on and off, changing every hour. We didn’t have running water for five days, and we didn’t have internet for a week,” said senior Lucas Nuttall. “But If you ask my teachers, it was prime time for studying.”