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Students looking forward to spring
BY KATIE BERG
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/26
TYLER SWEENEY / STATESMAN
Brian Ries looks around at the rocks and snow,
while hiking the Superior Hiking Trail near
Finland. Many students are looking forward to
melting snow and the chance to get outside
after a long winter.
As March comes to a close, students are starting to say goodbye to the cold winter weather. Coats are being traded for sweatshirts and hoodies, and snow banks are beginning to melt and show the ground beneath. This change in seasons is helping many students really gear up for being outside as spring begins to emerge. “Just being outside will be nice,” said freshman Lauren Hemingway. “I like running outside better than working out indoors.”
Like Hemingway, many students have begun moving their workouts outdoors. The weight room is less busy, especially on warm days when joggers are seen around the school and on the roads surrounding campus. But running outside isn’t the only spring activity. “We’ll be starting [intramural] softball soon,” said senior Jill Raymond, the coordinator of the Kirby Program Board. “We’re in the competitive league, and we’re ready to go.”
Raymond said that she is part of a Duluth city league, but the UMD RSOP Intramurals include softball leagues, although the dates to sign up teams have passed. Besides softball, Raymond said that other fun spring activities she’s looking forward to are Frisbee and her idea she calls ‘Bubbles.’
“[Bubbles is when] you go outside, take those huge bubble wands, and just play with bubbles all day long,” said Raymond. “It’s crazy and a lot of fun.”
While some students are excited to get outside right away, some are still waiting for the spring thaw to dry up a little.
“It’d be nice to sit down somewhere outside [to do homework],” said senior Katy Cirilli, “but it’s still wet and soggy out.” Junior Jeff Shrack agrees with Cirilli. “[We’re] still in that transitional state,” said Shrack. “The fishing opener is not for awhile, and [summer] camping isn’t really for awhile either.”
He does say that currently to get outside, he’s brought his glove out to play a bit of catch. It seems as though the Duluth weather will need only a few more weeks to dry the ground up before students will become a common sight outside, either throwing a Frisbee around, playing pickup baseball or even getting some homework done in the sun, if they can.
