2008 Woodie Awards
Muggy March days leave students sweating
Helen Nevius
Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: Inside WCC
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It is 2 p.m. and you are sitting in class on the third floor of the LA building. It's an unusually warm day for March, and all around you students are fanning themselves with their notes and mopping their brows. As you struggle to keep yourself awake and focused, your eyelids growing heavy in the heat, one question lingers on your mind: When are they going to turn on the air conditioning?
The answer is around May 1, WCC Manager of Mechanical and Electrical Systems Clarence "Beau" Burgen said. He said that he tries to have the system ready to go by tax day each year. Still, some unseasonably hot days have left some wondering why it can't be switched on earlier.
Cara Chapin, a WCC business student, described her classes on the second and third floors of the LA building as "fricking hot" during the last week of March.
"I'm all for it being kicked on as soon as possible," Chapin said of the air conditioning.
Her fellow business student Sameer Khatib agreed.
"They probably should [turn it on] when it's hot," Khatib said.
The temperature is of particular concern to instructors and students who spend time in the WCC machine shop in the Storage and Receiving Building. Industrial technology instructor Tom Penird said working in the heat presents certain hazards, such as fogged-up safety goggles.
"If you have sweat dripping off you, you could be blinded," he said.
The metal in the building is also more prone to condensation and consequential rusting when it is allowed to heat up during the day and cool down drastically at night, he said.
Still, he said he did not want to criticize anyone for the lack of air conditioning. He said he knows the problem is being worked on and expects that the machine shop will have a proper heating and cooling system in two or three weeks. Industrial technology instructor and Department Chair Gary Schultz said that the machine shop should have a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system by May 5.
The answer is around May 1, WCC Manager of Mechanical and Electrical Systems Clarence "Beau" Burgen said. He said that he tries to have the system ready to go by tax day each year. Still, some unseasonably hot days have left some wondering why it can't be switched on earlier.
Cara Chapin, a WCC business student, described her classes on the second and third floors of the LA building as "fricking hot" during the last week of March.
"I'm all for it being kicked on as soon as possible," Chapin said of the air conditioning.
Her fellow business student Sameer Khatib agreed.
"They probably should [turn it on] when it's hot," Khatib said.
The temperature is of particular concern to instructors and students who spend time in the WCC machine shop in the Storage and Receiving Building. Industrial technology instructor Tom Penird said working in the heat presents certain hazards, such as fogged-up safety goggles.
"If you have sweat dripping off you, you could be blinded," he said.
The metal in the building is also more prone to condensation and consequential rusting when it is allowed to heat up during the day and cool down drastically at night, he said.
Still, he said he did not want to criticize anyone for the lack of air conditioning. He said he knows the problem is being worked on and expects that the machine shop will have a proper heating and cooling system in two or three weeks. Industrial technology instructor and Department Chair Gary Schultz said that the machine shop should have a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system by May 5.
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