With the hot, summer weather following us into the fall months, it’s important to do all you can to avoid overheating. The real question is, how are we supposed to stay cool when the school air conditioning has been out for the past several days? 

The problem is not only here at Apex High School, but Apex Friendship also went without A/C for the first week or so of school. “Nobody wants to go to school to sit in a puddle of sweat,” an anonymous student from AFHS stated.

Everyone who has a class on the fourth floor hits the heat head on . Last week, the thermostat in a chemistry class read that the room was 76 degrees. Having to sit in the stifling heat makes it difficult to focus and negatively impacts our learning.

It became increasingly clear to me how big of an issue the heat is in my creative writing class. Everyone went silent in the middle of class because we all thought we heard the air kick on. When we all thought we felt the temperature drop even the slightest bit, everyone cheered! But only a minute or so later, it shut back off, and everyone was visibly upset that the A/C was still broken.

Having it be so hot impacts our mood and the way we dress. Students are more likely to get dress-coded in school simply because they were dressing for the temperature in the building. Students and staff are statistically more likely to be in a “not so good” mood due to excessive heat. The New York Times published an article proving how the recent heat waves can lead to worse mental health. With mental health on the decline due to adjusting to a new schedule, seasonal depression, and the heat, this could help explain recent outlashes among students.

Everyone loves summer break because the heat and time away from school offers opportunities for outdoor activities such as swimming. But what happens when we have the heat but no way to escape it?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/well/mind/heat-mental-health.html