All televisions are set to local news stations; all phones and computers set to refresh school home webpages; all adolescent eyes, crusty in the corners with lack of sleep, set outside bedroom windows as precious white specks of snow dance to the ice-bound streets. Whether it has snowed one inch or one foot, all Colorado schools can be positive of one thing and one thing only:

Regis Jesuit High School will not have school, or at least a full day of school, today.

With this universal knowledge comes an undeniable sense of frustration and chagrin. Even though nobody is surprised anymore when RJ issues a delay or a cancellation, they are still just as bitter. Students from other schools feel we deserve neither a cancellation nor a delay, if they do not receive one, as well.

But why is it that we at RJ are given so many shortened days and days off of school? Nobody seems to address the answer.

Regis Jesuit students come from all around the state – as far as Boulder and Colorado Springs – and therefore need ample time for their morning and afternoon commutes to and from home; far more time than someone who lives around the corner from the school. Because of this, when weather conditions are inclement, it becomes not only a ridiculous question, but a safety hazard, to pose for students living in these distant counties.

This truth will not prevent the slew of frigid commentary that comes every winter; even students and faculty within the walls of Regis Jesuit make light of this stereotype. Mr. Adam Dawkins ’98 goes so far as to occasionally refer to RJ as “Vacation High.”

While this stereotype “is fitting,” according to sophomore Kateri Sheber Howard, “it makes sense for us to close school when other schools who have students only from nearby, don’t close.” And maybe next time we have a delay, as you’re driving in traffic down a 55 MPH street at 25 MPH, direct your thoughts toward those students who do live far away, instead of at the poor, stalling cars around you.