BY HEIDI MARINO // This winter Hood College students admitted they are tired of the snow – especially the commuters.
According to College Board, 56 percent of Hood College undergraduates live in on campus housing, leaving a significant portion of the remaining students as commuters. These students were forced to take risks this winter by traveling on snowy roads and through unplowed areas in hopes that they’d make it to class.
Student Emily Singleton, 21, was upset about her commute from Pasadena, Md., to Hood College. Singleton explained that the hour drive is a struggle even when snow isn’t an issue. She was disappointed that when Hood canceled classes – her workload didn’t lessen, leaving her with assignments she didn’t understand how to complete.
On days when Hood was open and the snow was still an issue, Singleton had difficultly parking on campus.
“With the snow, parking has been atrocious,” Singleton said. “The other day I couldn’t see the parking lines and sometimes the snow blocks the parking spots.”
The campus delays also caused Singleton problems.
“A lot of the time, I have to leave about an hour to an hour and a half earlier than my classes start, and sometimes I’ve already left before they changed the status of opening/delaying/closing Hood,” Singleton said. “Time and gas wasted.”
Unlike Singleton, Dominque Quesada, 21, lives in Frederick, but she said the weather still caused her problems.
As a commuter, Quesada drives 10 minutes through town to get to Hood. Before she leaves her house she has to remove the snow off and around her car, which often makes her late for school.
“When Hood had a delay, but the roads in town had not been plowed, it took me twice the time to get to school,” Quesda said. “The main intersection near Hood was having trouble and the lights were out of order which made the busy intersection dangerous. Also, even though Hood had a delayed opening, I had a night class and by night the roads were frozen, making me skid at every stop.”
Commuter, Briana Greer, 21, said when snow affected her school schedule she was unsure if her teachers would postpone assignments. Like other students, she also had difficulty parking.
“If more snow comes they better do a better job at plowing for parking,” Greer said.
Hood College staff were also frustrated with the winter weather.
Director of campus safety and security Daniel P. Spedden said that when the state and federal government shut down public transportation and government offices, Hood College emulates their decision. When the outcome of a winter storm is hard to predict Spedden bases his decision whether to close, delay or open school based on the track of the storm, conditions of the road, duration of the storm and from the opinion of a road supervisor.
“This is my first winter on the job. My colleagues tell me that this winter is not representative,” said Spedden. “The timing of this winter storms has disrupted campus activity more than usual and has caused much inconvenience.”
Another commuter student Helena Hammond-DoDoo, 21, is involved in the school clubs The Movement, STARS and Tele Team. She also has an internship in Frederick which requires a minimum of 120 hours and a full schedule of classes.
Admitting that she has a hard course load, Hammond-DoDoo also says that she’s a French minor and taking a phonetics and diction course.
“It’s only three times a week for 50 minutes,” Hammond-DoDoo said. “That time alone is not enough, but add in some missed class time and that just complicates everything.”
The snow has also complicated her internship hours.
“Now I have to figure out how to re-work my schedule in order to reach my required credit hours,” Hammond-DoDoo said. “I am NOT a fan of snow days in the slightest.”
These students each said they hoped for no more snow.
“Snow days were fun in high school,” Hammond-DoDoo said. “But as a commuter and a junior in college I am no longer seeing the fun in them.”