On Jan. 26, 2026, Union University shut down its campus due to snow. The campus remained shut down for an entire week. The student body experienced this past week in numerous different ways. Tatum Bayliss, a junior Christian studies major, absolutely loves the snow.
“I like to go hang out with my friends, and then I like to come back to the dorm and cook something and then get cozy on the couch and watch something,” Bayliss said.
She tends to appreciate the small, nostalgic moments in her life, and the snow days are a great time for her to take it slow and enjoy time with the people around her.
“It is a fun time when there are not many responsibilities,” Bayliss continued. “You can just hang out with people, spend time together. Everybody is on campus together, and it is a really good time.”
Although Bayliss finds many joys in her snow days, there have also been some downfalls that she has recognized.
“The snow days last really long, and you cannot go off campus, and so a lot of your plans shift and change,” Bayliss said.
The majority of the student body at Union University has been snowed in and unable to leave campus. Many students have even begun to walk to the stores to get their groceries to make it through the week.
However, since the snow has kept the students in such close quarters, snow days can be a time of growth for many students.
“It is a good time for us all to be around each other and spend time together,” Bayliss said. “I think there is the negative of our schedules all getting thrown off, so things have to look a lot different when we get back to our classes. I personally lose a lot of academic motivation whenever I am stuck in the dorm all day, so I find it is really challenging to complete all the assignments my professors have for me when I am not leaving my dorm at all.”
Bayliss has experienced the positives and negatives of the snow days, but she tends to steer towards the optimistic side of things and reminds herself of the joy the snow days bring and how she gets the chance to surround herself with the people she loves.
“Because you are all together for so much time, you are forced to get closer and spend more time together,” Bayliss said. “So, I think in the end that is beneficial.”
These snow days can often be nostalgic for many, and they were for Bayliss.
“These snow days remind me a lot of being a kid, when I would get to have snow days,” Bayliss said. “They bring me back to childhood and bring back a lot of memories of being little and snow days with my mom.”
For others, these snow days do not bring back nostalgia. Amelia Specht, a sophomore nursing major, grew up in California and only saw snow for the first time about five years ago. Although she is still somewhat new to the snow, she would not consider herself an enjoyer of it.
“I have a love-hate relationship with snow days because I get to sleep in and make food in my dorm room with my roommates,” Specht said. “But I personally find it hard to rest sometimes because it feels like I am wasting my time if I am not doing something academically productive, and then I beat myself up about it later.”
Specht finds joy in the people around her, even though snow days are not her favorite thing. She makes the most out of her snow days by spending sweet personal time with her roommates, whom she loves.
“I am very blessed to be really, really close to them, and they are kind of like my own sisters,” Specht said.
Specht believes these snow days are an opportunity for her to invest in her friendships, but also to get to know people she hadn’t spent time with before.
“For my sorority, we did a board game sisterhood, so we all just went to the house and played board games with each other,” Specht said. “So, I feel like it was a great time all around to build relationships with people I see all the time, and with people I see a little bit less.”
Although the snow has benefited Specht by allowing her to grow closer to her community, it has not improved her life academically.
“I feel like there’s the potential for the snow to be helpful academically, but I feel like my course load is 80% studying this week, so I found it hard to find the motivation to study,” Specht said.
Specht has not enjoyed the snow but has found a positive attitude to keep her going through the week and to get her through her challenging studies.
Although this past snow week has brought some challenges to Tatum Bayliss, Amelia Specht and the rest of the student body here at Union University, whether you have loved the snow or hated it, it is safe to say that it has brought communities together, sparked moments of joy within dorm rooms and provided new memories through all of the chaos.