Many people’s Thanksgiving break ended either early or late due to a snowstorm that hit the Northeast region and Mid-Atlantic states.

Williston allowed boarders to return a day early, on December 1, because of a really bad snowstorm that hit New England the next day. While some people came back a day early, other students, especially ones flying in, arrived late. Many flights were either delayed  or cancelled, extending their break a little longer. According to Flight Aware, around 6,500 flights were delayed and more than 800 were canceled nationwide on the night of December 1.

The snow storm hit 25 states according to USA Today. Many schools in the Northeast cancelled school on Monday, December 2, because of snow, ice, and high winds. A lot of places in Massachusetts, including Easthampton, accumulated at least a foot of snow overnight.

Sonia Whitman, a junior from Greenwich, Connecticut, had to cut her break a day short due to the dangerous conditions of the roads. “I didn’t want to have my parents driving in the snow because it wouldn’t be safe conditions and there would be a lot of traffic,” she said.

Even though she arrived at school a day early, Sonia did not mind. “I didn’t mind that I had to come back a day earlier because I had squash practice on Monday. I also built a snowman with my friend, Nikki Foster ’20,” she said. “I didn’t have to rush unpacking because I was able to get organized.”

Kana Kitano, a sophomore from Tokyo, Japan, who spent her break with family friends in California said that it took her a really long time to get back to campus from Logan airport in Boston.

“My flight was delayed for almost two hours because of the snow storm. It was delayed for 30 minutes before we got on the plane,” she said. “And when we arrived in Boston the plane was circling around the airport for an hour and a half.”

“The arrival time on my screen kept on increasing and I was getting really annoyed,” she stated.

Kana told The Willistonian, “The bus ride back was even worse because of the traffic. Coach K [Dave Koritkoski, Associate Dean of Students] told me that he was scared to drive fast because he wanted to get us back safely. There was also a really bad car accident and there were skid marks everywhere.”

She described the traffic was “four miles long” and all she saw were red lights.

“The whole bus ride took four hours, and it usually only takes two hours to get back to campus.” With a sigh of relief, Kana said, “I’m just glad that my flight didn’t [get] cancelled.”

Sahnet Ramirez, a senior from Delray Beach, Florida had to arrive at school two days late because her flight was delayed.

“I was supposed to come back Tuesday night and my flight was supposed to leave at 8pm but then it was delayed till 11 pm due to the snowstorm,” she said. “I had to change my flight to the next morning on Wednesday because I would have arrived at Williston at two in the morning.”

Sahnet told The Willistonian, “My flight kept on getting pushed back and I was trying to convince my mom to let me come back to Williston on Friday.”

Praghya Athavan Raja, a sophomore from Tamil Nadu, India, did not decide to go home this year. Instead, she split her time between the houses of Sarah Markey ’22, Sydni Landman ’22 and her dad’s friend’s house.

“I had to come back a day early because of the snow storm. I was supposed to take the Logan shuttle back to campus on Monday, but I arrived a day earlier. My dad’s friend drove me to school,” she said.

“It all worked out for me because I was supposed to be dropped off at the airport around twelve, and I would have had to wait for five hours.”

Casey Feins, a senior from Naples, Florida, went back home for Thanksgiving break. Her flight from Ft. Meyers to Hartford was canceled due to the snowstorm. She ended up missing two days of school because the only flight available was on Wednesday night.

“My flight got into Hartford at two a.m. on Thursday morning, and Rachel Goodman ’20 picked me up and I spent the rest of that night at her house,” she said. “I went to school in the morning for class on Thursday.”

Casey jokingly told The Willistonian, “I was so happy when my flight was canceled. I tried to convince my parents to let me stay home until Christmas break because I would have only missed 15 days of class, but they said no.”