Operation Snowball is coming up on Friday, Nov. 8 for DGS students. Snowball can be a great experience for some who connect with other classmates on a personal level, while for others, it can be a struggle to make it through the program.

I’m not saying that Snowball is terrible and no one should attend. What I am saying is that Snowball is not for everyone. It is something you should go to figure out for yourself.

Before Snowball starts, students are assigned into random groups, this makes it so students aren’t exclusively with their friends all weekend and invites the opportunity to make new friendships. This can be great for students who are put into truly well randomized groups.

This isn’t always the case. Sometimes two close friends can be randomly assigned to the same group, which makes it hard to enforce inclusivity. For me, having two friends attached at the hip in your Snowball group is the worst way to spend your time.

If you are the one who has a close friend in your Snowball group, you may see it as a good thing. In reality, it’s the worst thing that can happen to you. From personal experience, it is ten times harder to make new friends with people who are already close friends.

Even if you do get a great Snowball group, some topics mentioned in Snowball may not hit as close to home for you as it does for other classmates. Some people at Snowball may not enjoy sharing their opinions, or prefer being closed off. Opening up a can of emotions can be problematic for some students.

That being said, some people enjoy talking to others about their personal life. They may enjoy opening up to a group of strangers. It’s the students who don’t want to share that may not enjoy this part of Snowball.

I do think that everyone should go to Snowball at least once; some students may thrive at Snowball, where others will dread every second. Having that experience will help you decide if Snowball is for you or if it isn’t.

Personally, Snowball isn’t the best environment for me. I don’t really enjoy being thrown into groups of people I have never met for a few days. Despite that, I will be attending Snowball on Friday. 

My reasoning? My friends genuinely enjoy going to Snowball and enjoy the possibility of new friendships and meeting new people. As a senior, I want to spend as much time as I can with my friends before we have to leave for college, so that is why I will go.

In all, Snowball has the possibility to be great for any student who attends. Whether those expectations are met or not is all up to each individual’s experience.

So go to the “community of caring” to keep the Snowball rolling. If it isn’t for you, all you wasted was $125 and warm fuzzies that you are going to throw out when you go home.