On February 7th, an otherwise inconspicuous Tuesday night, cheers rang through the halls of dorms across campus. The news had just come out in an email: on account of Winter Storm Niko, classes for Thursday were cancelled and long weekend would begin a day early. School is not often cancelled at boarding schools like Groton, but Thursday’s impending snowstorm forced Groton to do so in order to get students off campus safely. Associate Dean of Students Libby Petroskey explained her initial concern: “Mr. O’Donnell and I became aware of the horrendous weather that was approaching on Thursday. The storm had materialized into something quite big and we wanted to make sure that all the kids were safe.”

Deliberations began early Tuesday to shorten the final day of classes and have students leave earlier Thursday. Director of Communications Gail Friedman informed parents of this change and Assistant Head of School Andy Anderson related this to faculty and students. Then, the forecast changed. “[The forecast] went from about 5-8 inches of snow to 8-14 inches,” said Michael O’Donnell, Dean of Students. “When we look at that forecast we have to think not just about what the weather’s like on the ground here, but we look at Logan and what it is going to be like on the bus route to New York.” The plan had to change for safety’s sake: Groton’s administration convened later that day at the Headmaster’s House and finalized the decision to send students home early.

The abrupt schedule change went rather smoothly: the school’s bus provider, Buckingham Bus Company, was accommodating, and local parents were willing to house students who had to change their weekend plans. “Everything seemed to fall into place,” commented Ms. Petroskey. By Wednesday evening, only two students remained on campus. Both deans praised Administrative Assistant Susan Fallon for her work on communicating with students and dorm heads to ensure everyone had a place to go before the storm hit.

Once all students were off campus, the second stage of work came for faculty: rescheduling. This was a difficult task, especially in respect to sports games. Athletics Intern Eileen Giles spoke to this: “[it was] a little chaotic…just in terms of rescheduling because our normal game days for the rest of the season are already booked, so we had to play on ‘off days’.” The Athletics Department worked diligently to ensure that all games that needed to be played would be.

For most faculty and staff, including the Dining Hall and Health Center staffs, this meant a day off. For the Buildings and Grounds crew, however, this meant significant work. “[B&G] put in a tremendous effort no matter what they do. Even when everyone cleared out of here they were constantly plowing the place the whole time. They worked through the whole weekend,” Ms. Petroskey said.

Although the snow day called for heavy labor, it was a pleasant extension of the weekend for most faculty and students. Yuno Iwasaki ’19 commented, “Although changing travel plans was a bit of a hassle, it was definitely nice to have a little extra time to spend with my family.”

Gratitude goes out to everyone, on and off campus, who worked to ensure a safe departure from school and invited those who couldn’t make it back to their own homes, into the warmth of theirs.