DelVal shifts to remote classes Monday, delayed schedule Tuesday after winter storm hits region -

By Dante Campana, Samantha Salazar, and Ryan Rawls

Cash Davis, a freshman turf management student who moved from Texas, looked out his window Sunday taking in a view that he will remember for a long time.

“It’s much brighter than anyone explained, I remember looking out my window and feeling almost blinded when I looked at the ground,” he said.

This was the first time Davis saw snow. And he saw plenty of it.

The winter blast delivered nearly a foot of snow to communities across Bucks County. The cleanup was underway, even as the snow was falling, as students saw DelVal workers salting and clearing walkways throughout and after the weekend storm.

The University shifted classes to a remote schedule Monday and a delayed schedule Tuesday, but normal classes schedules are expected to resume for the rest of the week.

The snowstorm this past weekend affected everyone living on campus and left a memorable impression. College life offers a myriad of new experiences for attendees, including the weather-related fallout that can inconvenience the day-to-day flow of students and staff. Justin Brouse, Director of Student Involvement, said the snowstorm prompted a pivot in the programming schedule, as the team wanted to make sure students had more options for things to do indoors.

“We realized the students might want something to do over the weekend, so we partnered with Resident’s life to do some programming on the snow day,” he said. “So on the north side of campus, they hosted movies in Centennial basement with popcorn, and they also had a game night in South Hall for on campus students. That’s something we wouldn’t have done probably if it weren’t for the snow.”

Cash spent time holed up in his dorm room doing math homework as the snow piled up outside. When asked about how the campus handled the aftermath of the snowstorm, he explained “I think [the campus] handled it well, the walking paths and roads were cleared very fast”.

The efforts of campus staff do not go unnoticed as they maintain the various walkways during the winter months.

When the storm struck Sunday morning, snow and wind whipped through campus, and not many students braved the conditions and the low temperatures.

Elizabeth Williams, a conservation and wildlife management major, lives on campus and said she didn’t get out much on Sunday and Monday. She kept herself entertained reading and coloring.

Gabriel Flores, who lives on campus and works in the university’s mail room, stayed indoors, too.

He said he was “pretty bored” in his room most of the day. “I was hanging out with a couple of guys from my team, spending time with my teammates; it was pretty good. At least I was bored with a couple of friends.”

On Tuesday, he said, the delayed dining hall hours was a surprise. “It caught me off guard, the change in hours. I was a little blown by that, I just took it to the chin.”

As someone who isn’t used to dealing with the snowfall, Cash offers a unique perspective of learning how to adapt to these new weather conditions as he goes about his studies.

“If you get snow on your tennis shoes and then walk inside, the snow melts and your socks get very wet,” he said.

Though the snow can be a damper on moods – and clothing – he said that “the main impact of the snow was how cold it was and how much of it there was.”