College Students in Sandy's Path

Over the last two days, we have been talking more than usual to our children in college - between us, the Head in the Clouds blogging team has three children in college, two of whom are first years. All of them are in Sandy’s path (really, if you’re on the east coast you’re in Sandy’s path), including one in New York City and another near Philadelphia (at Swarthmore). We hear that Columbia has cancelled classes for today, and everyone is keeping a close eye on water levels in Manhattan, even though Columbia is on higher ground. Swarthmore, where my son is located, has cancelled classes for two days, and my son reports that he and his friends are hunkering down for an unexpected and welcome break. Yesterday, they managed to scrounge the last of three loaves of bread and PB&J from their local food co-op (just in case their one dining hall closes or they can’t get to it), and they borrowed the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy from the library.  That will work well, of course, until they lose power, at which point they will have to balance the merits of using their remaining laptop power for Lord of the Rings over anything else. 

So as we keep a watchful eye on distant shores, we were wondering if you have a college student who’s not in Amherst and in Hurricane Sandy’s path? Where are they? What’s the impact on them? Have their classes been cancelled? Have they been evacuated? Let us know!

If you have a student in the hurricane’s path, s/he may want to pack an “evacuation bag” in case they’re asked to leave their dorm (this is particularly important for students in areas that are at risk of flooding).  Encourage them to pack for 2-3 days, regardless of what they’re told.  Contents could include:

• underwear
• toiletries
• towel
• medicine
• laptop (fully charged) and charger
• cell phone (fully charged) and charger
• light clothes
• sleeping bag if they have it

Are there other items for emergency preparedness that you would suggest?

And, finally, don’t worry too much. The way I see it, my son is probably safer in his large, concrete reinforced dorm than he would be in our small house in the woods, even with the storm being so much more intense where he is located. For sure, he’s going to have some stories to tell, and hopefully some pictures to share soon enough (pictures taken, let’s be clear, from your dorm window and not the great outdoors!). Stay safe everyone.

(Posting by Mindy and Sharon)