‘Snow Blast’ puts Snow and high school students together, just to have fun
Daniela Vazquez
Staff writer
1-26-2017
EPHRAIM—When high school students and Snow College students collide, a “blast” is what happens.
Almost 200 high school students from all over the Western U.S. met on Snow grounds to participate in one of the many SnowBlast events from Jan. 21-22.
SnowBlast is an event meant to capture the special attention of high school juniors and seniors aged 16 and up who have shown an interest via online submission in Snow College.
The school invites the students to an overnight stay on campus allowing them to experience what life is like for a Snow College student.
“What we try to show them with SnowBlast is that these are the kinds of things that go on on a small residential campus like Snow, and you’ll have fun,” Snow College Director of Admissions Jeff Savage said.
About 10 percent of parents come but are required to find accommodations off-campus, Savage says. However, parents can ask questions during a parent question and answer session on the first day. The remaining activities are reserved for the students.
To help put parents’ minds at ease, Savage says the college groups high school kids with Snow College Ambassador students of the same gender who give them campus tours and attend activities with them. The prospective students also stay in his or her ambassador’s apartment or dorm overnight.
Savage says high school students from urban areas are accustomed to having accessibility to most things, like the mall, eateries and shopping. So SnowBlast shows students the various activities kids can do on a small campus and in a small town.
But some students already know that Snow is where they want to attend after they graduate from high school regardless of the size and location of the school.
“I already know that Snow is where I want to go to college,” Vladimir Robles, a senior at Ben Lomond High School in Ogden, said. “But I wanted to see all of the opportunities [Snow] had and all of the things they covered like the housing, and also to get information about Snow.”
Even so, knowing that Snow is the school for you and finding things to keep you occupied during college is not the primary concern most high school students have, says Savage.
Instead, he says students have said that the number one thing they fear is whether or not they will fit in and make friends.
And SnowBlast is meant to curb that fear, and this year they helped to curb that fear with a campus spinoff of the popular game show Fear Factor, a game where contestants must perform disgusting or scary stunts.
Both high school and Snow students had met in a gymnasium at the Activity Center directly after a dinner catered by Main Street Pizza, only to continue overfilling their bellies with sticks of butter and dog food, among other gross things.
Surprisingly, very few students had their heads in a trash can during the competition. Most completed the challenges without much hesitation or heaving.
Hopefully, students who participated in the gross food eating event had brought a toothbrush and toothpaste or at least had a pack of minty gum because there was a dance held immediately after.
Students were encouraged to dress as either jocks or nerds for a Jocks-versus-Nerds-themed dance with DJ Marcus Wing, a renowned Utah disc jockey.
The high-energy dance was over at midnight, the time many parents say high school students are supposed to be back inside the home. But not that night.
Students could attend an after party at the Park Place Apartments Clubhouse if they wanted, which lasted until 1 a.m.
Savage says some of the kids don’t stop there.
“I hear ambassadors say the kids wanted to stay up longer and just talk after they got back to the dorms or apartments,” Savage said. “Then they come staggering in for breakfast on two or three hours of sleep. But they love it.”
Students ate a warm breakfast sponsored by Snow Garden Apartments at 8:30 a.m. The sponsored breakfast is meant to release the financial burden of high school kids who paid to attend, and from the school.
Attending SnowBlast is quite affordable. High school students pay only $25 for the entire trip, which includes two meals, activities, tours with ambassadors and the overnight stay.
Snow College hosted Snow Blast Diversity for the first time last weekend to encourage more participants. Diversity offers transportation to kids who live along the Wasatch Front for only $5 more, another affordable perk.
Snow hosts multiple SnowBlast events each year to give students a way to experience the campus before they decide to attend.
Savage says he knows SnowBlast has an impact because of the 1,069 new students who enrolled last year about 240 of them attended a SnowBlast. He says about 40 percent of “SnowBlasters” decide to attend the school.
While activities are an important aspect of attending Snow, Savage says, “Academics are important, and we’re great at that.”
