Over the past week, schools throughout Wilsonville have been closed due to icy conditions on the road and sidewalks, making it difficult for students and teachers to travel. Beginning on Saturday, January 13, Wilsonville was hit with snow, which froze overnight. 

All the way through January 19th, there were continuous mixtures of snow and ice, all of which froze on the roads, making driving a danger. Even towards the last days of the storm, as roads thawed, there were still bits of ice everywhere, and sidewalks continued to be frozen over.

During the storm, people found fun ways to spend their time away from school. A first grader who lives here in Wilsonville, Easton Gee, spent his days over break playing outside with friends, sledding along the ice, and playing video games. He states, “We played in the snow or ice, and we had fun sliding around.” 

Meanwhile, other people felt the need to get out of the house. Ali Vandergon, the 9th-grade class president, says, “I really missed school more towards the end of the storm because I didn’t get to see my friends and socialize.”

Being stuck at home had both benefits and challenges. One of the main challenges was the upcoming finals week. The week of our bad weather occurred during the time when classes were supposed to wrap up units and begin reviewing the semester in preparation. 

This caused stress for both staff and students. Students were trying to review things at home on their own, but not everyone was able to. With certain areas’ power outages, things teachers posted on Google Classroom were no help to people without internet access. Teachers were rushed and had to quickly try to ready students online. 

But, in the end, finals were pushed back a week, returning the time meant for review and increasing preparedness. This ended up giving students the extra winter break everyone needed.