With a recent stretch of sunny days and warmer weather, Castleton students have been eager to take advantage of it.

Last week, temperature rose to around 50 to 60 degrees with blue skies and students living in Morrill and Wheeler halls have been celebrating and hanging out on the balconies.

They were tossing footballs back and forth between the floors and engaging with students who walking by. 

The skate park has also been open to students and locals, and has seen a lot of moving wheels recently.

Typically, the skate park only gets action every once in a while, but last week, half a dozen students have been out there all day long.

“Pretty much everywhere I look there are people walking out and about,” said Brandon Ryan.

Ryan continued to say how much more engaged he feels living on campus these days.

“Even though there are rules and restrictions in place, the campus atmosphere feels better than last semester,” he said.

Ryan lives in a suite with student athletes from the track and field and cross country teams. He said being able to watch their involvement with the school on the athletic fields is something he missed last semester and is super happy to see again.

Sophomore Brianna Murray discussed how with the warmer weather it gives her more time to spend time with friends.

“I can’t see my friends because they live in other buildings and that just sucks,” she said. “But thankfully it’s been very warm lately so I can go outside and just feel better with friends I don’t normally see.”

She explained how this semester felt better than last and being able to see everyone and having an in-person class helps significantly with her studies as well as her mental health.

However, while the warm weather and blue skies might be enlightening for some, others have different opinions.

“I mean it’s kind of like bittersweet. I know it’s warm out now, but it’s going to get colder, which sucks, but I’ll just look forward to when it stays permanently warm,” Ande Joyce Jolley said.

But even with the warm weather weather leaving for now, the happier feelings are still there.

“I will say this semester is way better than last semester,” Ryan said. “Even though things aren’t perfect, I’m still having a lot of fun and living in the moment with all my friends and all the fun times we have together.”