At 7:11 a.m. on Aug. 24, Sacred Hearts Academy sent out an email saying students did not have to come to school while those arriving were sent back home.

The Academy had suffered flooding and loss of power due to the heavy rains, making it impossible to hold school sessions.

Because of this, a four-day weekend turned into a five-day weekend.

What did students do with this long, unexpected five days?

“I played in the rain and drank hot cocoa,” said junior Alyssa Kaneshiro. “Hot cocoa is perfect for cold weather and the rainy day was a perfect opportunity.”

Other students chose to stay inside for the duration of the day.

“I played with my dog,” said junior Samantha Ishihara. “My family and I put a shirt on him and he didn’t seem to mind. I filmed a bunch of videos to look back on and even sent some of them to my friends.”

Some students spent their rain day in each other’s company.

“We took two people, Mindy and Kacey, over to my house and we basically played board games all day,” said sophomore Paige Mattos referring to friends Mindy Thai and Kacey Chong. “The main game we played was Monopoly. It’s a long game, but it’s fun especially when we really get into it and get competitive.”

As for the game, “I beat them at it,” added Thai. “They had no money compared to me. I beat them two rounds in a row.”

Even if one can’t hang out with others in person, technology has made it possible for friends to still talk and laugh face to face.

“I was Skyping my friends all day,” said sophomore Nancy Min. “I don’t remember exactly how many hours, but it was like we were still all together and we had a lot of fun.”