On February 2nd, 2021, Punxsutawney Phil was awoken at 7:25 a.m. to come out of his house and forecast what would happen for the rest of the winter. The groundhog came out slowly and ended up seeing his shadow. You know what that means, six more weeks of winter! 15,000 viewers tuned into this Philadelphia live stream to see what the groundhog would predict. The accuracy rate of Phil’s guesses has dropped to only 36% since 1969. Some people truly believe in Phil’s ideas, but others just tune in for the fun of it.   

When discussing Groundhog’s day with high schoolers, it seemed to bring back memories from them as a child. “I used to get very excited because I got to wear my pajamas to school on groundhog day,” Tessa Bartell, ‘21, said with a smile. On the other hand, teens these days have seemed to grow out of this excitement phase, “Now, I do not pay attention to it,” Tessa said. Phil’s six more weeks of winter prediction brought up some eagerness in the students, because the snow could bring up some possible snow days! Tessa stated, “I am excited because I want more snow days and I am a senior who does not have to make them up. We deserve it!” Emily Coss, ‘21, stated, “It has been cold for a while, but I could use a few more snow days!”  

Overall, it seems like the tradition of celebrating Groundhog’s day has started coming to an end for most Wilton High School students, but it brings back old memories and snow days that these teenagers will remember for a lifetime.