Although the temperatures during the first few weeks of school haven’t been unbearable, it has been hot enough that people have had to try to find ways to keep cool.
Throughout most of the summer sessions, the weather was uncharacteristically mild, but as soon as the fall session began, the temperatures went up a few notches.
Summer attire is the order of the day as students on campus can be seen wearing cool summer clothes like shorts, tanks and flip-flops.
Some, like sophomore computer programming major Duje Kaliterna, isn’t shy about leaving the buttons on his shirt open as he walks around campus.
He said, “I’m trying to stay cool . . . if I could come to school naked I would.”
Kaliterna manages to beat the heat by coming pretty close to coming to school naked each day when he works out as a member of Cerritos’ polo team.
Water, juice, Cappuccino Blasts and anything else cold to drink are in high demand right now.
Students like sophomore nursing major Amy Cruz, who manages to stay cool by remaining indoors, or finding a shaded area when she’s outdoors, said she drinks a lot of water so she won’t “dehydrate and melt.”
Students who have to be outdoors, like Cerritos freshman softball player Shari Garcia, said, “I have softball [practice], so I’m in the sun for two hours, and it’s hot.”
She said, “When I was younger I used to get sick because of the heat, but now I make sure to take my water with me.”
Most rooms on campus are air conditioned, and many people simply stay indoors.
Many of the people who work at Cerritos are lucky enough to have air-conditioned offices.
But for students, classrooms are their escape from the heat.
In between classes they can go to other air-conditioned places like the library or the computer lab.
The student center is another place to go if you want to socialize, yet still be indoors. However, it is not as cool as some of the other rooms, and according to freshman accounting major and member of Cerritos’ baseball team, Jason Burkhard, the game room is “too hot.”
Despite the recent heat, there are still those who prefer being outdoors on a sunny day. Some even choose to remain outside because they find the air-conditioning too cold indoors.
And it just so happens, that most of the people who find the air-conditioning too cold are also the people who actually enjoy warm weather.
Sophomore Flor Campos said, “I find that my classes are too cold. I’ve got to bring my jacket to my Spanish class, so I have to be carrying it around, and as soon as I get out of class take it off, and find shade.”
Campos added, however, “I like this weather.”
And freshman Amna Pervez said, the classes are “extremely freezing. Outside it’s like 110 degrees, but you go inside the classroom, and all of a sudden it is so cold, I have to bring out my big old snow jacket to keep myself warm.
“And people are just looking at me like ‘what the hell is wrong with you?'”
Like Campos, however, Pervez admits that she prefers warm weather.
She says she’s always sitting outside studying between classes.
“You see everybody else sweating and stuff, but I’d rather be outside in the sunshine enjoying fresh air than inside in an isolated area with no sunshine . . . I can’t stand that.”
Still, there are people like freshman Isidro Perez who prefer an air-conditioned room to a warm one. He said they were hot in high school.
Cruz says she feels the warm weather actually affects her study habits. “It kind of drains your energy and your thinking power, and your desire to study.
“You just want to go to sleep and not do anything”
Maybe school starts too soon.
According to Burkhard, “It’s too hot to be in school right now.”
