On Sunday, Jan. 15, Covenant College saw snow which resulted in MLK day being cancelled, and a dose of childlike abandon along with a lengthy weekend. Not, one would think, what was expected the first weekend back at school, but how welcomed it was!
“I was excited. It was definitely the biggest snow I’ve ever seen, and seeing everyone enjoy the snow as a community was fun,” said Courntey Swanson, a freshman.
First off, lots of students were signed up for the MLK day work project, so much so that the signups were full, but the event ended up being cancelled last minute. Many were planning to attend the college’s Gospel concert, and the lecture and panel for Dr. Carl Ellis Jr. who actually marched with MLK. However, these events were also cancelled due to the masses of snow that settled on the mountain. It became too dangerous to travel the roads on Lookout Mountain, and campus closed until noon on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
“I was interested to see what the college would do for that day because it wasn’t a huge thing in my life thus far,” said Swanson. The college is attempting to reschedule the MLK day events to another date. As an alternative on Monday, Aly Faulk and the Diversity Program, created a last minute space to call attention to MLK and pray over the church along with the position that MLK represented.
image by Nate Stewart
“We had a prayer over the day and read over the Birmingham letter. It was super reflective, and it drew attention to the perhaps stagnant position of the church,” said Hannah Acker, one of Covenant College’s Multicultural leaders. “We as a church don’t really think to reflect on this time and the lessons to be learned from MLK. He was a pastor, a brother, and a friend. We sometimes forget that he was a person. He inspired patience…the amount of patience people had to stand up against the majority, even while MLK was in prison, so that people would understand, is amazing,” said Acker. She continued to express that one needs patience for action to come, and that love and patience overcome rather than violence.
This small, intimate prayer time was deeply appreciated by student attendees. “The time in prayer was the best. It was gospel oriented, and it was amazing to lift that letter up in prayer,” said Lucy Sicks.
As for the snow, there were plenty of students for which this was their first experience with it. People wanted to snuggle up with hot drinks, but only after snowball fights and pictures.
Some students expressed that they particularly liked walks alone in the snow. “I also went on several walks with my roommates at night with some music,” said Swanson. “This was amazing, and the people participating in the snow was also amazing.”
Walks weren’t the only snowy activity of the week. “We went late-night sledding down the hill behind founders which was both horrifying and exhilarating,” said Acker. “When else are we going to be able to slide down that hill except when there’s snow?”
In an email that Brad Voyles of Covenant College sent to students, it was mentioned, “All MLK Day On events for this afternoon and evening will be rescheduled to a later date to be determined.”