On Thursday, November 15, Winter Storm Avery, moving down from the Midwest, touched down in New York. Masters canceled all after school activities, leading many students to leave school directly after classes had ended. However, a number of them didn’t get home for hours, or at all.

India Isaacson; 11th Grade; Tarrytown, NY: “Some kids got out of the bus and came back with two platters of chicken for everyone”

My bus started trying to go down the hill by Estherwood to exit school, near Stop and Shop, but the driveway hadn’t been salted and we were skidding down the hill. Thankfully we went in reverse back up the hill and it was fine, but then my bus driver had to get out of the bus to help push a stuck car. We keep trying to leave campus but the roads were terrible. I looked out into the street and saw that all of Ashford Avenue was blocked up. All of Route 9 was in complete deadlock traffic.

We were stopped in Irvington and had been in the same spot for over an hour, and we were right by Main Street and getting hungry. There’s this Mediterranean market right next to where we were stopped, so some kids got out of the bus and came back with two platters of chicken for everyone. We all ate together on the bus. Multiple times my bus got stuck, and I didn’t end up getting home till 9, even though I had gotten on the bus at 3:30 PM.

Zia Foxhall; 11th Grade; Peekskill, NY: “It is a two-mile walk, majority uphill, to my home”

Everything on the train was looking like it would be just fine upon departure. There was minimal delay and I believed I would get home in due time. Then, I started getting calls from my parents saying they couldn’t get their cars out of the driveway, and even if they could, it would be too dangerous. Instead, they told me to take a cab from the train station. However, when I arrived at the station in Peekskill, in the spot where there are usually around 10 cabs, there was not a single cab in sight.

The only option left was to walk. Mind you, it is a two-mile walk, majority uphill, to my home. After the first mile, I stopped at a coffee house order some dinner to warm up; at this point, I couldn’t feel my feet or fingers. My dad called and said he would walk down to the coffee house with some boots, gloves and a hat for me so we could finish the journey together. He meets me, we eat dinner, gear up and finish the uphill trek home. Totaled 3 hours to get home.

Michael Van Demark; 11th Grade; Somers, NY: “My bus driver still had to drop off kids at the Cross River bus stop, then drive back to Yonkers to drop off the bus.”

I left school on my bus at 3:45 PM and there was so much traffic that we didn’t reach the bus stop in Katonah until about 6:20 PM. From there, it is usually a 15-minute drive to my house, but it took over an hour. There were various trucks that were jack-knifed in the middle of the road as well as cars stuck along the sides. It was a mess. I got home at 7:30 PM.

My bus driver still had to drop off kids at the Cross River bus stop and then drive back to Yonkers to drop off the bus. That took him an additional four hours, plus, he had to commute home, which was another three-and-a-half hours. I felt really bad for him. Even though it was bad for us, it was a lot worse for him.

Vasilisa Ioukhnovets; 10th Grade; Putnam Valley, NY: “We were moving one foot every half hour.”

We left school at 3:40 PM. In the beginning, Waze was saying that we’d be home at 6:30 PM. For a while, there was steady traffic, and it had taken three hours to that point. We were on the Taconic, and it took us four more hours to go from a sign that said “Exit 16: 1 Mile” to actually get to the exit. We were moving one foot every half-hour. This was because we had to go up a steep slope, and all the cars that didn’t have four-wheel drive couldn’t get up. All the stuck cars were lined up in one lane and there was only a bit of space for the rest to get through, with the help of a policeman. As we waited, my sister and I played Tic-Tac-Toe on the window. I finally made it home at 11:15 PM. I was so tired, but at least we were safe and didn’t get into an accident.

Arnav Garg; 11th Grade; Ardsley, NY: “I had a pair of socks I had brought for basketball that I wore as gloves.”

I got an email saying that Ardsley would send a bus at 3:40 PM. By 3:45 PM we tried to leave. After about 30 minutes of not being able to go down the street which goes through Masters, we finally got to Clinton Avenue. It took another hour and a half of being on the bus and not getting further down Ashford than Walgreens until I decided to get off the bus and walk home. When I was walking down Ashford around Walgreens and the bank there was a lot of traffic that wasn’t moving. I had a pair of socks I had brought for basketball that I wore as gloves. I got a slice of pizza when I got to San Gennaro’s. I had waterproof boots on so I was able to keep my feet dry. I got home at 6:00 PM. The snow was kind of beautiful, though.

Matt Nappo; 10th Grade; Harrison, NY: “There were about seven kids who ended up sleeping in Park Cottage– we inflated air mattresses and got some sleeping bags and got ready for bed.”

Me, Liam Kinsey, Eli Rubinson and three middle schoolers left school on our bus at 3:30 PM. We took Route 9 and traveled 2.1 miles in three and a half hours. We were watching people push their cars and cars were abandoned. Our bus was slipping and the wheels were spinning full rpm but the bus wasn’t moving at all. We were close enough to school to turn back, so that’s what we did. We drove back to school in about seven minutes – there weren’t any cars going in the other direction.

When we got to school, I was starving and we ate sushi in the dining hall. Then, Ms. Danforth invited us to stay with her at Park Cottage. When we arrived, there were about 10 or so other kids there. We ate food around the big dining room table together. Some kids went for a walk after a while, and some stayed inside and did work. I was hanging out with Maddox and Eli, playing piano and guitar – that kept us occupied for a while.

Some teachers like Mrs. Gormley, Mr. Patel, and Mr. Shear arrived to assess the situation. They took Liam, Eli, and another kid to the dorms where they would sleep. There were about seven kids who ended up sleeping in Park Cottage – we inflated air mattresses and got some sleeping bags and got ready for bed. Mrs. Danforth and Dr. Chu were so nice for letting us stay and I am so thankful that we were able to sleep over at their house. Really, the entire time I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to not still be on my bus like some other kids were.

Andrew Hack; 10th Grade; Scarsdale, NY: “Our bus had driven into the snow and pushed it forward– we ended up tilted on our side.”

I got on my bus as I usually do at 3:30. Because there was no late bus we had to split up onto two different buses; they called another one to come in. We ended up with a bus driver we had never met before. It was a weird ride home– we didn’t even leave the road by the quad where the buses line up until around 4:00, because busses couldn’t leave campus because of the snow.

On top of that, as we were driving down the hill to exit campus, back by the exit near Estherwood, our bus ended up getting stuck in the snow. Our bus had driven into the snow and pushed it forward, we ended up tilted on our side. And so we were stuck in the snow for almost a half an hour, and a car behind us that was also trying to get out was gliding on the snow and couldn’t stop and ended up ramming into the side of our bus.  Our bus had been tilted to the side, but our driver got out and pushed the snow out from underneath the bus, and drove around another bus, which was even more stuck than ours. After that, it took about an hour and a half to leave Dobbs Ferry. We ended up getting back to Scarsdale around 6:00.

This post will be updated throughout the weekend. If you are a member of the Masters community with a story to share from the storm, message Tower on Facebook or Instagram, or email sarah.faber@mastersny.org.