Temple remains open Monday after Winter Storm Jonas

WRITTEN BY: ZURI HOFFMAN

Some students have snow days, Temple students have snow weekends. Last weekend Philadelphia was struck with Winter Storm Jonas, trucking along 22.4 inches of snowfall for us to plow away. The blizzard was ranked #4 in Philadelphia history, making Jonas one to remember. The city was in a state of emergency throughout Saturday and Philadelphia public schools were even closed Monday and Tuesday.

Though classes were in session for many Temple students starting Monday, many found interesting ways to spend their snow weekend. Freshman, Amirah Ali enjoyed her weekend. “I spent my snow weekend watching movies with my boyfriend for the most part,” Ali said. “And eating a ton of junk food that I’ll be sorry for later.” Speaking to other students many, like Ali, enjoyed their weekend spending time with friends and loved ones, visiting home, sleeping, catching up on work and admittedly pigging out.

As other universities announced that classes would be canceled on Monday, Temple students received an email notifying them that the University would remain open. Though some students were looking forward to having an extended weekend, most still attended their Monday classes. However to many students’ frustration, the campus wasn’t as clear of snow and ice as they anticipated. “I was a little disappointed I guess because I have a long commute and then to get all the way to school and it’s a campus full of ice was insane to me,” Ali said.

Another commuter, freshman, Shalisa Gilliard wasn’t thrilled, either. “I was very mad the University didn’t close,” Gilliard said. “It was difficult getting to school because I commute and the ice was dangerous. Specifically the walkway on Montgomery and 12th street needed to be cleared a little more.”

Many students also felt that campus could have been cleared more than it was for Monday’s classes. However, by the middle of the week, campus seemed to be back to its normal clear walkways, in spite of the giant piles of ice.

However, the Temple Gymnastics team had a pretty memorable weekend. The team was stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 30 hours on a bus. The 14 athletes never made it to their destination, but did make it back to campus safely on Sunday. During their road block the team kept their fellow students and followers updated with constant tweets on their standings. One tweet reads, “We’ve hit the 24 hour mark on the bus! Still stuck out here on the @PA_Turnpike but staying warm and positive #Snowzilla.”