While the blanket of snow that fell across Providence Sunday to Monday brought Providence residents a city-wide parking ban and frigid temperatures, it brought something far sweeter for students in many Rhode Island schools: a snow day.
The smiling faces and rosy cheeks of some of those kids could be seen at the snow-covered India Point Park on Monday. Bundled up in hats, scarves and mittens, local schoolchildren ventured outside to enjoy sledding and playing in the snow.
“We usually only get one or two snow days a year, so it’s a really rare occasion that everyone’s really excited for,” said Agatha Blair, a 14-year-old at the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing & Visual Arts.
“I’ve just been relaxing honestly,” she added. “But I’m coming out to sled right now.”
Many Rhode Island schools were closed on Monday due to inclement weather. Schools in the Providence Public School District will remain closed on Tuesday, Jan. 27, according to a Monday evening announcement from the PPSD.
Blair said that on Friday, she learned her school would be cancelled the following Monday. She was excited that she didn’t have to complete homework for Monday, but added that if she were to have Tuesday off as well, her assignments would be posted online.
“Some of my friends from school texted me saying we have a snow day,” she said. “I was really excited and we were all talking about it.”
India Point Park became a popular sledding spot for many young students.
To Blair’s right, 9-year-old Peter Jost, who attends Ocean State Montessori School, cruised down the hill on a sled.
“I didn’t want to go to school,” Jost said, “I just wanted to stay home (and) have fun in the snow.”
“I was just really impressed that there was gonna be like two feet of snow,” his 8-year-old friend Evan Verissimo, who attends Barrington Christian Academy, chimed in. He added that he had spent the day hanging out with Jost, sledding and shoveling the driveway with his family.
Claire Ahern, a 9-year-old at The Croft School, said that her snow day had been “really fun.” She said she had spent the day watching TV before she decided to go sledding.
Ahern, having finished her homework, was able to spend all the time she wanted in the snow.
“I was really, really, like, wow, this is a lot of snow,” she said. “I wasn’t quite sure that there was gonna be snow, so I was really surprised.”
Schools in the Providence Public School District will remain closed on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
7-year-old Lola Damon, who attends Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, said her favorite part of snow days is “snow angels and igloos.” She added that she had tried and failed to construct an igloo earlier that day.
“We get the whole day to have fun,” she added.
Her twin sister, Maya Damon, said she “didn’t really care,” that it was a snow day, and that she was only “a little bit” excited. But Lola Damon jumped in to say that just minutes before, her sister had been excited about igloos and snowmen.
Seconds later, Lola Damon jumped back on a sled belly up and slid down the hill.
