If you’ve ever seen someone walking up Rugar Street dressed as if it’s the middle of July during winter months, you may have stopped to question that person’s sanity — but it’s nothing new to senior Michael Leddick.
“On the really cold days, or if it’s snowing or sleeting out, I get the occasional ‘are you nuts?’” he said.
Leddick is a fan of not dressing for the weather, opting instead to wear shorts when most people are nearly wearing ski pants.
“I’m a bigger guy, so the cold doesn’t bug me as much as it might affect someone that’s only 5 foot 6 and 160 pounds,” he said.
Though seeing students on campus dressed less than ideally for the cold weather may be surprising to some, it can often be an indication of how someone should be dressed for that day.
“I don’t need to dress warm, I’m used to the cold,” senior Charles Meyer said. “But if people ever see me wearing a jacket, they’re like, ‘crap, I probably shouldn’t even go outside.’”
Some people on campus don’t fear the North Country winters like many other students do; however, this could be based on growing up in the below-zero temperatures of Plattsburgh and its surrounding areas.
“I’ve lived in the North Country my entire life,” Leddick said. “I’m used to the nasty winters we get.”
Though this winter has been surprisingly mild compared to the nearly Arctic winters that have blown through Plattsburgh in the past, not all students are affected by the blistering wind and snow they sometimes experience.
“If the only thing I have to face outside of the warmth of my room is a cold day and a stiff wind, it’s not a big deal for me,” Leddick said.
Meyer agreed, saying he hasn’t been a fan of wearing a coat since he was in junior high.
“It really started in middle school,” he said. “I would bring a coat to school with me, but I wouldn’t wear it.”
It’s not only guys who opt out of dressing warm for the weather. Some girls have also decided the weather isn’t something they’re scared of.
“I’m a North Country girl, so the cold really doesn’t faze me,” said Meagan McComb, freshman.
Even when the temperature drastically drops at night, McComb said she still won’t bundle up.
“I’ll wear a short skirt and a short sleeved shirt out to parties at night,” she said. “When I see girls wrapped up in thick coats and jeans, I just think they look ridiculous.”
Leddick agrees with her sentiment.
“I look at someone bundled up to the point where you can see their nose and nothing else and think ‘that’s a bit excessive,’” he said.
However, Leddick believes there is a difference between dressing poorly for the cold and dressing poorly for the weather.
“If it’s just cold out, I don’t mind wearing my shorts and T-shirt, or going to class in my sandals,” he said. “But you won’t see me doing that in the middle of a snowstorm. I might be a bit eccentric, but I’m not reckless.”
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