Snow Doesn’t Have to Be Depressing

Written by Penelope Ingram & Mati Held

Winter gets a bad reputation for being dark, cold, long, and honestly a little bit miserable. But it doesn’t have to feel that way, especially at a boarding school like IAA where snow becomes an everyday part of campus life. Snow turns the campus into a giant playground with endless possibilities. Sledding is popular among students on weekends and there is always someone attempting to build the biggest, or most questionably shaped, snowman on campus. Two years ago, a group of music students even built an igloo in the mall.

There is also something about winter that brings people closer together. Students tend to spend more time together since everyone is “trapped” inside the same buildings; complaining about the cold becomes its own bonding experience. When winter starts to feel endless, the Dennison Center offers tubing nights at Timberlee Hills and ski trips to Crystal Mountain as an escape with friends; even if you don’t know how to ski, it’s a great place to learn!

Winter doesn’t have to be depressing when the weather is treated as something to work with rather than against, though maybe, just maybe, this is simply the perspective of a winter person convincing themselves they don’t desperately want summer back again.