Earlier this week, the heat and humidity in the Chicagoland area had skyrocketed, rising above the 100-degree threshold by a substantial margin.
And as one might expect, such changes in the weather ought to create problems. Especially within Mount Prospect and the neighboring villages, where such high-temperature waves are, to say the least, very uncommon.
In fact, due to an air conditioning malfunction, Buffalo Grove High School decided to close on August 24 because of the potential risk the heat could have caused the staff and students. Fortunately, however, Prospect is not at the same degree of risk.
However, The school’s AC broke down and required maintenance during the heatwave. John Bassler, a math teacher, teaches on the third floor, the area most affected by the heat.
“I got pretty lucky,” Bassler said. “The room where I teach four of my classes, 312, has been pretty cool.” However, room 333, where he teaches his statistics and probability class, required a fan constantly working to lower the temperature.
Bassler isn’t too concerned about the heat, as his classes were either unaffected or slightly inconvenienced and is confident that the air conditioning issues will be quickly resolved. Saying how they would be fixed in the following days.
Despite this, however, the heat has made a much larger impact on PE classes. Senior Corinne Vreuls voiced her concerns for the temperature in the gyms.
“The girls’ locker room hallway felt like it had no AC, and it felt horrible in [the locker room],” Vreuls said. “[I only saw] one fan.”
She described how hot it was in the gym, recounting how she started sweating even when standing still. She spent most of her time in front of one of the portable fans to stay cool and stop from overheating.
“I have gym for 2nd period,” Vreuls said. “So I just feel gross and sweaty for the rest of the day.”
