TCNJ embraces snow day fame with holiday video
This year’s TCNJ holiday video embraces the attention the school has received for its snow day traditions, celebrating “the simple joy of a day at play in the snow.”
The College of New Jersey is ready: Snow days are coming.
Snow days, those campus closures that delight students everywhere, have taken on special significance in Ewing Township. TCNJ, after all, is where a college spokesman becomes legendary among students for attaching his name to the campus emails announcing snow days.
The Inquirer wrote in February about how Dave Muha had become a campus icon, with students invoking his name in social media prayer and buying up "I (snowflake) Muha" shirts.
This year's holiday video message from the president embraces the flurry (sorry) of attention the campus has received.
"Much was made last winter of TCNJ's love of a snow day," the video's caption reads on YouTube. "So, in the spirit of the season, we celebrate the simple joy of a day at play in the snow. Happy holidays!"
The animated video, "Roscoe's Snow Day," features the college's lion mascot waking up to an alert on his phone: "SNOW DAY. CLASSES CANCELLED."
A smile comes over him, and he rushes outside, sleds through campus, takes a selfie in front of a lion statue, and rolls snow into a snow lion, complete with a blue-and-gold TCNJ scarf.
People seem to love the student-created video. By midday Wednesday, a day after the video was posted to Facebook, it had received nearly 12,000 views. The YouTube video had another 1,100 or so. The Facebook post had more than 450 likes and more than 100 shares, higher than usual.
Last year's video, Muha said, racked up about 10,000 views over the course of the whole season.
That video featured a large "Giving Thanks" board where people wrote short messages. The 2013 message was more like a traditional advertisement, touting accomplishments over the year.
This year's holiday video ends with a photo of TCNJ's president, R. Barbara Gitenstein, and her husband, Donald B. Hart, with a "best wishes" message.
Then come credits for the students who put the video together: Hayley Graves and Nick Rapagna for illustration, Ryan Laux for animation and editing, and Chris Lundy for animation, editing, music, and sound.
The college's seal makes up the closing frames of the video — with a layer of falling snow, of course.