With classes canceled Monday due to a snow storm, almost all of campus was shut down, including the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, The Grill, the Pit Stop and the Post Office.
However, some employees still had to make it to campus despite the hazardous roads. “Emergency-essential” employees, according to St. Thomas’ snow emergency guidelines, are “still required to report to work as scheduled.”
These employees include Food Services staff, Public Safety officers, some O’Shaughnessy-Frey staff, Physical Plant workers and Information Resources and Technology workers.
Emmanuel Takgbajouah, circulation supervisor of the OSF library, which opened an hour late, was no exception.
Takgbajouah drove into work on the main roads because side roads were not plowed. Once the snow day was declared, he said, he still expected to work because he lives nearby.
“When it’s a snow day we try to keep the library open for students, so if we live close by, sometimes it’s volunteer,” Takgabajouah said.
Takgabajouah started working at 12:30 p.m. and was still working at 8:45 p.m. He was expecting a long day, however, since he’s experienced three or four snow days in his 13 years at St. Thomas, he said.
Scooter’s also was open for a period of time during the day.
About 12.5 inches of snow have fallen since Sunday afternoon and another inch is expected to fall Monday night.
The Minnesota State patrol reported 304 vehicle accidents between 6 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Regions Hospital in St. Paul said its emergency center has treated about 75 patients since Sunday evening for snow-related accidents.
Minneapolis has declared its eighth snow emergency of the season, which officials said is the most Minneapolis has declared in a single winter.
Students relax with no classes
St. Thomas students were excited when they found out that there would be no class on Monday.
Freshman Brittany Fink said she wasn’t expecting a snow day.
“I was really, really doubtful,” Fink said.
“We were hoping there was going to be one,” added freshman Mary McCartney.
Fink and McCartney said their hall erupted in celebration Sunday night with the announcement of a snow day.
“We heard screaming. We checked the news after we heard screaming, and then there were people skipping down the hall,” Fink said.
Many students spent the snowy Monday doing homework and relaxing.
“We had a movie night [Sunday] night and we kind of did homework,” Fink said. “Then we slept in this morning and then it was half homework, half relaxing.”
Classes are scheduled to resume Tuesday.
For snow information, students can call 651-962-SNOW.
Lizzy Schmitt can be reached at schm9587@stthomas.edu.
I just want to add that many emergency-essential employees are students as well, so not all students had fun relaxing the day away. Many of the people that make this school run smoothly are also going to school at the same time.
I just wanted to add a couple of other names to those who opened the OSF and Ireland Libraries. Nathan Wunrow opened the OSF library and Angela Lietz came in for her shift from 9:00 pm to 2:00 a.m. Ireland Library was opened by Betsy Polakowski and Curt LeMay. We also relied heavily on a number of student workers who help to keep the libraries running! And a lot of people came to the library – close to 700!