By Christina Burke
Managing Editor

Senior Kayleigh Smith and her family did not anticipate on spending their Sunday night trekking through snow to the nearest restaurant, but with the arrival of a surprise snow storm in Missouri, they did not have much of a choice.

Winter break was all fun and games until it became too cold for students to return home from the holidays.

On Sunday, the day before Coppell Independent School District classes were set to be back in session, a surprising drop in temperature put a hindrance on enjoying the last day of break for some. Overnight, a cold front came in that nearly dropped temperatures beneath record lows.

For most CISD students, this weather made it even more of a struggle to crawl out of bed Monday morning to return to class. However, some students would not make it to school that day simply because they were stuck outside state borders.

Smith left town earlier in the week destined for a friend’s wedding ceremony in St. Louis. The trip turned into an extended vacation when Smith’s flight home was cancelled on Sunday morning. Stranded in a hotel, the Smith family spent time watching TV and socializing with others whose plans had been offset by the weather.

“We had no food, so we had to walk to a restaurant in the snow to eat,” Smith said. “It was the only restaurant open in 25 miles, so we were lucky that our hotel was right by it.”

But the struggle was not over yet. The family spent six hours the following day in the airport waiting for a flight back home. They were lucky enough to make one of the four flights that arrived back to Dallas safe and on time Monday night.

The cross-country cold front has also put a hindrance on former CHS students who are trying to get back to college. CHS 2012 graduate Caroline Gibbons attends Wheaton College, a small Christian college in Wheaton, IL, where the she has become no stranger to the snow. However, this particular icy blast has put her plans at returning to school on pause.

“After going to college in Illinois, I have become used to the snow and cold weather,” Gibbons said. “Right now there is a lot of snow up there, and the airport runways have to clear up before I can fly back, so I’ll be spending the next few days at home.”

As the weather has cleared up, many students have returned home at last and can safely say that are glad to be back at CHS.

“I was really thankful to be home and out of the freezing cold and snow,” Smith said. “It was the coldest it’s been in St. Louis in 20 years, and with the wind chill, it was about -28 degrees. I am thankful I don’t live in a state that receives snow frequently.”