1978
1978 MAPLE LEAF YEARBOOK
2011
EMILY TRAPP ’13
2011
EMILY TRAPP ’13
For only the second time in Goshen College’s 117-year history, a snow emergency forced the cancellation of all classes and activities this past winter. The first closure occurred during the “Great Blizzard of ’78,” Jan. 25-29, when temperatures plunged and three feet of snow arrived along with high winds, which created giant drifts. Alumni remember building snow tunnels, jumping out second floor windows into huge drifts and walking down 8th Street with snow shovels and digging out buried automobiles. Susan Mark Landis ’80 recalled students holding an impromptu square dance on impassable Main Street. “We ate cereal and reconstituted powdered milk and tried to be gracious when Greencroft (senior housing) got the first food shipments,” Mark Landis wrote on GC’s Facebook page. Another snow emergency arrived this year. Late on Feb. 1, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean Anita Stalter and Vice President for Finance Jim Histand announced via email and emergency text phone messages that all classes and activities were cancelled due to the ongoing extreme weather, including forecasted high winds and additional heavy snow overnight and throughout the next day. Although the weather cleared by mid-day on Feb. 2, the City of Goshen and Elkhart County had issued emergency weather declarations prohibiting morning driving, so the campus remained closed until Feb. 3. Students, who dubbed the powerful storm “Snowmaggedon 2011,” greeted the cancellation of classes with a mixture of surprise, delight and bursts of joyous activity. Some students playfully ran through the snow; others stayed up late to watch movies or played board games in the Connector. The next day, many students slept in and then ventured out to explore the snowy campus and play more games. The mood remained exuberant throughout the day. The next day, classes and activities returned to normal.
CAMPUS NEWS
SNOW FORCES SECOND CLOSURE AT COLLEGE
– Richard R. Aguirre
Spring 2011
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