As a student at UW Oshkosh, I consider this place and the people in it my community. It is important that you are aware and eager to help the place you call home for four to five years.

I have been a student at UWO for three years, which means I have survived three cold and snowy winters. 

There hasn’t been one winter where I haven’t had a friend or a peer fall and really hurt themself as they were walking around campus. 

It goes without saying that this is a huge problem. 

It is also really hard to figure out where the blame falls. Is it the city of Oshkosh or the campus’s due diligence to make sure sidewalks are clear so students can walk safely to and from class? 

According to ABC10, approximately 1 million Americans are injured each year from falling on the ice or snow. 

Of that 1 million, around 17,000 people die annually. These are extreme numbers that shouldn’t be overlooked. It is important that people look out for the people in their community. 

I encourage people to take the time out of their day to shovel and scrap the snow and ice around their properties, ensuring that students and faculty can walk safely to class or to work. 

Going beyond that, the community also includes kids and elderly people. People walking their animals or kids walking home from bus stops are also at risk for falling on the sidewalks. 

By clearing the sidewalks, we can be confident that the number of people injured or killed from falls will decrease.