It's another winter day in Maryville; the wind is blowing snow around at 20mph creating blizzard-like conditions and making it a dangerous walk to class. Luckily, the campus of Northwest Missouri State University has heated sidewalks that melt that slick snow or ice….or does it?
Almost everyone on the Northwest campus has heard the rumor involving the heated sidewalks. They might have heard it from a roommate, an alumnus, or even a tour guide giving the perks of going to Northwest.
"I remember the tour guide making a big deal about the heated sidewalks when I took my campus tour. It was like those were supposed to make up for how bad the weather is in Maryville in the winter, but I never noticed that they made that much difference," Kaycee Johnson, former Northwest student said.
There is even a Facebook group titled "You Know You Go to Northwest When…" that puts 'you walk on the heated sidewalks even if it is out of the way in the winter' at number 16 of things every Northwest student does. However, when asked, hardly anyone could point in the right direction of these convenient sidewalks.
The truth is that the sidewalks are NOT heated, some of them just happen to be placed over underground heating ducts that go through campus.
"Yes, the 'heated sidewalks' are a myth. There are some sections of the sidewalks that are placed over the ducts for the pellet plant heat and are 'warmed,' but none are heated in the traditional sense," Travis Kline, an Admissions Team Member for the university, said.
This is only one of the many campus myths and rumors that have been circulating over the years, but now the mystery of Northwest Missouri State's 'heated sidewalks' has been solved. Case closed.