Snow Affects Spring Break

Indiana Area Senior High School

By JENNY TODD

The Winter months are now upon us. The dreadfulness of cleaning the snow off your car, or slipping on a pile of ice is the new reality. The holidays are officially over, and it’s time to look forward to something new.

Younger kids view snow days as a day where they get to go outside and play in the snow, but as students start to grow older, snow days are considered to be more of a break from all of the work they have been putting in. Recently, we have been hit with a pandemic, and the question on everyone’s mind was, “are snow days even going to exist now?”

Students worried a great amount about their precious snow days. After being faced with two snow days this year so far, we have come to see that we are not replacing snow days with virtual days.

This year has been rough on everyone, but everyone seems to have different opinions on the snow day procedure. Freshman Eve Kuzneski said “I think that we should have synchronized days instead of snow days due to the fact that everyone was already online last year and knows how to join a meet and complete assignments synchronously,” but Senior Dylan Majernik stated that “ I do enjoy snow days very much.”

After everything students have gone through, they don’t need anymore change. The big issue with snow days is that they get taken off of our Easter break. Our once six day break is now only a short four days. This is disappointing to some students, like Sophomore Gracie Cook who said “I would rather have a longer Easter break than having a snow day. I think we should have had synchronized days instead of snow days. I enjoy them, but I wish that we didn’t have to make them up. I think that having synchronized snow days is the best option for not having to make up those days. We would still be able to get school work done, while counting as a full day and still being at home.”

The big question is, will this take effect in the future? This very much could happen in the future. Schools around us like River Valley and Penns Manor have already started having virtual days instead of snow days, and Indiana might be next.

When worried about what is to come in the future, snow days are the least of our worries. For the past couple of years students have not had a very long spring break, so this is nothing new to us.

Students will have to accept that maybe in the future there will be a chance of change to the schedule, but for now our Easter break has been cut short.

You May Also Like...

2025 Spring sports spring into season at IHS

By Ella Mosco and Cheyenne Rayba It is finally time at IHS to spring into the new sports season with Spring sports. The season has just begun and the teams have a great season ahead. The Boys’ Lacrosse team currently holds a record of 5-4. The boys’ team has continued to push forward in their season, trying to obtain a good WPIAL playoff seeding. Junior Domonic Lonetti mentions, “We are about to hit a very tough stretch of games, but we feel confident as a group that if we continue to take it one game at a time and do the little things right, those wins will come.” To accomplish this, the team is putting all of their efforts into practice to tie up any loose ends they may have. The Boys’ and Girls’ track team currently hold a record of 1-4. This year, the team seems to be at

April 23, 2025

Hopeful in Hershey: IHS FBLA students travel for state leadership conference

By Emma Buterbaugh Many IHS students made the trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, this year to compete at the Pennsylvania Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference (SLC). They competed for the chance to go to the National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Anaheim, California, in June. FBLA is a national organization that prepares students for careers in business. IHS’s FBLA chapter is the second largest club in the school, behind Key Club. Mr. Eric Brocious and Mr. Brian Schreyer, along with a group of officers, run the club. Students in the club often go above and beyond what is required or expected from them. Rocco Cosentino, a senior and the president of IHS’s FBLA chapter, expressed, “The students that made it to the state conference are often motivated and hard working. They go above and beyond to give effort by taking an objective test or making a presentation.” The

April 16, 2025

IHS welcomes new attendance officer Ms. MarCha Ellis

By Gabi Isenberg IHS welcomed a new attendance officer this month, Ms. MarCha Ellis. Ms. Ellis will be the new friendly face students encounter when they walk into the attendance office. Ms. Ellis, an IHS alumni, has joined the staff as the attendance officer, a change from her previous occupation as a direct care worker (DCW)/direct support professional (DSP), a profession in which she assisted people with disabilities. Ms. Ellis shares, “Working with people who are younger, going off into the real world afterward is kind of a career switch for me.” At IHS, Ms. Ellis’s daily duties consist of checking in students who come in late or get dismissed early. Additionally, she emails the coaches of student-athletes to inform them whether their athletes are in school for the day. She also commented, “The main purpose of this job is to keep track of kids’ attendance and find ways to

March 28, 2025

IHS welcomes Mrs. Stephanie Armstrong as new administrative assistant

By Cheyenne Rayba IHS is welcoming Mrs. Stephenie Armstrong as the new administrative assistant in the main office. Armstrong joins the staff at the beginning of February and is excited to be part of our school community. Mrs. Armstrong grew up not far from Indiana, in Homer City. She graduated from Homer Center in 1996. After high school, Armstrong attended IUP where she graduated in the class of 2007, with a degree in art education. Prior to working here at IHS, Armstrong worked at REA Electric as a front office manager. Outside of IHS, Armstrong spends most of her time with her two sons and husband. Currently, Armstrong is working to train the family dog to become a bird dog for her sons. She also enjoys skiing in her free time with her family. Previously, she also ran and owned a sugar cookie business. Armstrong hopes to be able to

March 17, 2025

IHS students raise cancer awareness with nonprofit Cancer Kids First

By Gabrielle Isenberg IHS students are dedicated to the cause of raising money for childhood cancer. Several students are members and organizers of the non-school-affiliated nonprofit Cancer Kids First, which aims to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer through fun activities. Cancer Kids First (CKF) is a nationwide, student-led nonprofit. Branches are formed and led by students to donate money to organized activities and donate money to pediatric cancer students. Indiana, PA’s branch is led by IHS students. Officers include seniors Matthew Blystone, Eve Kuzneski, Vania Ali, and Hannah Cowburn, as well as juniors Chloe Hain, Lelise Allison, Andrew Manzek, and Austin Schawl. CKF Indiana plans fun activities such as Spikeball and volleyball tournaments along with basket raffles to raise funds. Officer Chloe Hain shared, “We raise money and use that money to buy kids gifts off of an Amazon wishlist…[we] plan on doing more in the future to

February 19, 2025

Ms. Davies leaves an everlasting impact on IHS

By Zoiee Cornelius A wonderful 20 years of teaching at IHS is coming to a close for beloved teacher Ms. Dawn Davies. During her time at IHS, Ms. Davies was able to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Along with teaching, she also always ensured that her classroom was a safe space for everybody and was always willing to lend a helping hand. She says her favorite part throughout the years has been the students she has worked with. Ms. Davies was able to see her students’ full potential and how hard they worked. “It has been my pleasure to be their teacher, as well as honored to be able to teach them,” Ms. Davies said. After retirement, Ms. Davies has big dreams and goals she’s ready to fulfill. She says, “I plan to travel out west to see the U.S.” Along with traveling she’s also looking forward to

January 15, 2025