Winter Storm Izzy hit Northeast Georgia hard– but even in a state of emergency, Piedmont University students found a silver lining: making memories in the rarity of Georgia snow.
Even with roads covered in snow and ice, power outages and freezing temperatures, Piedmont students enjoyed their snowy Sunday on campus. Students spent the day sledding down hills, starting snowball fights, building snowmen and taking photos with friends in the first snowfall of the year.
Piedmont music student Kristy Lightly, who lives near Savannah, was excited to play in the snow in Demorest Springs Park with fiance Marcus Shockley.
“The last time that I got snow was during the snowpocalypse,” Lightly said. “There was snow on the beach, it was really crazy. I love being in the snow.”
Lightly says the campus has been active today when on usual weekends, the campus is like a ghost town.
Piedmont students Mahalia Joseph and Victoria Itedjere took their creativity outside to the volleyball court as they built their second snowman of the day on Piedmont’s campus. They braved the cold and wet weather to build the snowman, who they have named “Felix.”
Joseph and Itedjere say Felix is the younger brother of their other snowman, Glen, who “unfortunately died” when another student knocked it down earlier today.
“I’m the only one with [decent] winter wear,” Joseph says, talking about building snowmen with students on campus. She’s lived in Maryland in the past, and brought her snow-know-how to Piedmont.
Students went sledding down the steep snow-covered hill outside of Purcell Hall, where nearly every sledding endeavor ended with a student being ejected from their sled. Still, between bouts of laughter, they were at the top of the hill, ready to go again.
Even with power outages and unpredictable weather, students are saying the Piedmont community is making it through the storm.
“Everyone’s being very respectful of staff,” Lightly said of students utilizing the Piedmont cafeteria. She says staff has been working hard to keep students fed with hot meals during the storm, and that the Piedmont community has been more alive than ever with their excitement for snow.
