Cabot Students Build Igloo

Rather than taking the time to mourn the University’s reluctance to declare a snow day, James E. Hawrot '12 decided to take advantage of last week's massive snowfall and construct an igloo in front of Cabot House on the Quad lawn.

Hawrot said that he was inspired to build the igloo after hearing about the snow antics of other undergraduates.

After searching online for "how to build an igloo," he stumbled upon a 1949 Canadian short film on the igloo-building process.

Following the film's instructions, Hawrot began building the igloo this past Friday.

"We used milk crates to build the blocks," Hawrot said. "The snow was too dry, so for a bit, we had to fill buckets of water and pour it on the snow."

About 20 students helped Hawrot with the construction process, which was spread out over two days and took approximately 12 hours in total.

Hawrot, who is on the fencing team and is co-chair of the Cabot House Committee, said that although his practice schedule has prevented him from spending much time in the completed igloo, other Cabot students have already been taking advantage of it.

"People have been in there studying and having fun," Hawrot said. "I think it's a good addition to Cabot House."

Photos by Daniel M. Lynch/The Harvard Crimson