Lots salted, plowed in record time
Barker cited plowing and salting efforts by maintenance staff member Tom Belvin as crucial to clearing parking lots after the snow.
While the school follows Harford County Public Schools cancellation decisions, “We could have gone to school last week,” Barker said.
Facilities Director Stewart Walker said, “It’s unique for us to have two big storms back to back like that. It was a lot of work to get it cleared.”
According to Walker, an “outside vendor” came in with a plow for one day because of the amount of snow.
However, “Having the storms right after each other made it easier because we didn’t have to decide day to day about school operations,” said Walker.
Walker called the decision to come in two hours late throughout the remainder of the week “a wise decision” because of ice that could have accumulated over night.
Although snow hindered Senior Retreat and championship games, it did not affect the admissions process, allowing acceptance letters to be sent out on time, according to Barker.
Number of legacy students increases in class of 2014
Acceptance letters for the class of 2014 went out to 48 legacy children [children of alumni] and 3 grandchildren, making this potentially the first class with a third generation of JC alumni, according to Director of Alumni Relations Sue Greig.
This trend “has been increasing over the years,” said Greig. Currently, there are 131 legacy students on campus, while a total of 508 legacy children have gone through JC since 1987, when the first child of an alum graduated.
The difficulty in recruiting new legacy students is “finding out which of our alumni have middle school kids,” said Greig.
However, “what makes it easier for us is that a high percentage of our alumni raise their families right here,” with 71 percent of alumni living in Maryland, according to Greig.
In addition, “Our alumni get back in touch with us when they’re looking to send their kids here. That’s when they want to get involved,” said Greig.
Currently, another issue is “coming up with ways to recruit,” said Greig. “We do offer any legacy children the opportunity for one scholarship, which is $1000 to an incoming freshman.” Greig hopes to expand the fund because “right now, $1000 barely pays for books.”
Senior Retreat rescheduled
Because of the recent record-setting snow fall, Senior Retreat has been rescheduled from February 18-19 to March 10-11.
According to Campus Minister Patti Murphy-Dohn, the decision was made because of the “snow and being off of school for so many days.” She added, “A critical part of the decision was the timing.”
In making the decision, Murphy-Dohn “took into consideration sports schedules, rehearsal and play dates for Seussical, the availability of Willow Valley, and the events on JC’s schedule for March.”
“I am greatly disappointed that the postponement became necessary as I understand the seniors were looking forward to going this week. Hopefully the timing in March will not only work better for our schedule, but prove to be a great event for the senior class,” said Murphy-Dohn.
For seniors, the week of March 7 will consist of the Holocaust speakers that Tuesday, leaving for retreat Wednesday, and then leaving Willow Valley the following day at 3:15.
Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected].