Student story: It’s gettin' hot out here

By Shelby Simpson/Advanced Writing
   
These boiling temperatures make students beg for air conditioning.

The Flint Hills Publications Workshop is usually in full swing around the third week in July. When the heat waves are on the rise, sweaty students walk the long steamy path from building to building for their tracks.

This year was especially bad in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave and the temperature hitting 107 degrees on Wednesday. Students walked around campus with their heads hung, trying not to make contact with the blazing sun. Groups walking past sprinklers put their hands out hoping to catch even the smallest droplet of water on their heated skin

“The sun can really make you tired,” said Madeline Maloney a junior from Blue Valley Northwest. “Back in my hometown the weather is just as hot, but I’m not used to having to walk everywhere. So I think that is the worst part about the heat.”

People who have attended the Flint Hills camp agree it’s usually quite hot walking around campus.

“I think that the weather this year is about the same as it was last year, temperature wise,” McPherson High School adviser Lois Johnson said.”

These high temperatures affected night activities as well, such as the ice cream social on Sunday night. Once students sat down with bowls full of Manhattan’s classic Call Hall ice cream, it was a race to finish it all before it turned into a melted shake.

A plus side to the summer temperatures was the swim party on Tuesday. The heat outside made it feel that much more refreshing to jump into the water.

Students have done everything they can to stay cool during this hot week, from laying on beds in air conditioned rooms during long breaks or getting Popsicles at meals.

“All week I have been trying to make sure I always have my water bottle and I fill it as soon as it gets low,” said Caroline Engle, a junior from Kapaun High School. “I hate this hot weather.”