By: Lainey Hynes

Winter break is a time many students look forward to, both because of the holidays and the days away from school. However, this year, many Mt. Hebron students faced an unexpected problem this December: power outages.

This winter, Hebron students have not seen much winter weather, but over the break, freezing winds toppled trees, and broke power lines in the surrounding neighborhoods. With the power out, houses did not have heat, which for many, led to a multitude of problems, such as freezing temperatures inside houses and pipes bursting from the cold. On top of that, many holiday plans were put on hold due to the weather. 

“We were going to do food prep for Christmas eve, and we couldn’t do that. Usually, on Christmas Eve Eve, we watch movies together, or cook something together, and we couldn’t do that, which was really annoying,” said senior Abby Simcock, who lost power for about eight hours. Simcock is among several Hebron students whose holiday traditions were interrupted by a power outage.

“Our water heater wasn’t working so showers were really cold, which was another thing, and the lights were all out so we had to have candles everywhere,” said sophomore Lily Hoffman, who was without power for two days. 

Since so many outages occurred, BGE, who holds a monopoly on local energy, employees had a lot of work to do over the holidays. 

“BGE didn’t give us any kind of estimate for when it would be back. It was annoying. I wanted an estimate so I could plan around it,” said Simcock. She ended up spending her day out of the house and at the movie theater to pass the time. 

“I feel like considering the temperature and how many there were I feel like they dealt with it in the best way they could, no matter how fast they did it, I don’t think it would have been fast enough, because everyone wants to get their power back as soon as possible and there’s just no way they could have done it,” said junior Dylan Williams, who lost power for two and a half days. Williams was among students who found ways to pass the time without using electronics. 

“I reread a whole series swaddled in like, five blankets,” said Williams. 

Hofmann also read during the outage, having a much more optimistic outlook on her otherwise unfortunate situation.

“It was comforting in a way, because it brought me back to my childhood. Nowadays, power outages aren’t as common because the wires are underground, so when I was younger I would get a lot more power outages so it just reminded me of my younger self,” Hofmann said.

Though the effects of power outages could have been worse, students felt as though their break was not as enjoyable as it could have been. 

“It was less of a holiday break and more of just “oh we don’t have school anymore.” It was just a long weekend, because the stuff that we would do during a holiday, we weren’t able to do,” said Williams. 

Next year, Mt. Hebron students hope to have a winter break full of their usual holiday festivities without the interference of the weather. And, if the weather is to interfere, let it snow.