The Gryphon Gazette

By: Erin M. ’28

When is it too early to start thinking about a snow day? Some students say now is way too soon… but anything’s possible. In fact, one source explained to me that the earliest snow day actually happened in November. In this article, I will be revealing some of the mysteries surrounding snow day through the PAC perspective, answering everything except for the question, of course, of: when is snow day?

When and how do teachers know? 

Last year, rumors flew about secret snow day emails exchanged by PAC, which led to mostly false dates and failed tests. While conducting interviews, several PAC members explained to me that Snow Day’s date is actually revealed in person during a PAC wide meeting. Nothing is written down,  and importantly, nothing is digitized. Additionally, the date on which Snow Day is revealed to PAC often varies, with one source telling me that it can range anywhere from the beginning of the school year to just a couple of weeks before. “It’s pretty random,” they claimed. Last year, they received the date a couple of months in advance; however, one source told me that they have not received the date yet this year. 

When did Snow Day even start? 

The origins of this tradition were debated amongst PAC; however, it was decided amongst the math teachers that the first Snow Day was in 2009. The story goes that no PAC was told about the first snow day, and the chemistry teacher at the time (who no longer works here) had prepared an extremely expensive and time consuming lab. The realization that school was cancelled was devastating for them, as the entire lab went to waste. The first snow day activity was greatly contested (I got four different answers), but most recalled that the administration brought an actual ice rink to campus for ice skating as well as had several onsite games. One PAC member exclaimed “It was Winter Olympics themed— there was a biathlon relay race that involved running up the murder stairs (the side stairs) and down the main Mansion stairs and shooting a tower of red solo cups with a nerf gun.” While we haven’t had an at-Crystal Snow Day in at least a decade, they actually used to alternate between off-site and on-campus events. 

PAC favorite and least favorite Snow Days?

PAC from all different departments had varying opinions on their favorite and least favorite snow days. Several PAC favorites included the zoo, ice skating rink, Frozen II, and, of course, last year’s Dave and Busters. One explained that their favorite was when the school rented out the entire movie cinema in Downtown San Mateo, with students able to go from theater to theater, choosing what they wanted to watch. Another PAC member excitedly explained that their favorite was the duck ride experience in San Francisco, when students went duck sightseeing, had a BBQ lunch, AND went bowling all in one day! However, many of the least favorite Snow Day events overlapped with other PAC favorites. Both Frozen II and the duck ride experience in San Francisco were also common least favorites, along with the pandemic goodie bag Snow Day, the escape rooms at the Palace of Fine Arts, and the snow day at the nightclub just a couple of years ago. 

Where is Snow Day going to be this year?

I asked PAC for speculations on when they thought the next snow day would be, and for the most part, they didn’t have a clue! However, many believed that it would be a repeat from a while ago (several PAC members explained to me that many events, such as Dave and Busters, repeat, but only after 7 years) and would be an off campus event. Students informed me they hoped it would be at Great America, Top Golf or the Zoo again…but it seems we will have to wait for Snow Day next year to really find out.