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The recent weather has brought one of the coldest, snowiest starts to the semester in recent years to Oswego State. However, the snow is not bringing members of the Residence Life and Housing Student Learning and Success committee down. The committee worked together with Campus Recreation to host the second annual Winterfest, which took place Saturday Feb. 8 on the hill outside Funnelle Hall.

Alex Lykins, a resident assistant at Funnelle Hall, assisted the event both in 2013 and 2014 and believes Winterfest is a great opportunity to take advantage of all the snow the campus accumulates.

“It’s a great way to de-stress, hang out, and be a kid again,” Lykins said.

Snow is no stranger to the Oswego State campus. The school picked up about 7.5 inches in a major snowstorm in early February, according to the National Weather service, and was recently named the No. 2 snowiest school in the country by Accuweather.com.

However, the snow combined with the wind and the cold can become hard for students to bear. Junior Elliot Altland says sometimes it is even hard to walk short distances outside during large snowfalls, and recalls getting headaches from the cold while attempting to return to his residence hall.

“I grew up with snow most of my life, but this Oswego winter has been terrible,”  Altland said.

Altland, a member of the Student Learning and Success Committee and a resident assistant in Scales Hall, helped to set up the Winterfest activities.

The 2014 event offered a variety of winter traditions, including snow tubing, hot chocolate and cookies, a build-and-race-your-own toboggan station and a snowshoe race, which was won by sophomore Don Wang.

Winterfest is a great opportunity to enjoy being outside when usually all we want to do is stay indoors,” Wang said.

Campus Recreation at Oswego State will offer many activities throughout the spring semester, including various intramural tournaments, and a Valentine’s Day open skate this Friday at the Campus Center Ice Arena.