As kids in Rhode Island went back to school this year, a heatwave was occurring. 2023 already happens to be the hottest year yet in recorded history, with places around the globe reaching extreme temperatures for a long extended period of time. In the first week of our school year, weather services declared a heat advisory, which led to schools around the state being either canceled or dismissed early one day. Temperatures during this period were around high 80s to low 90s, an extreme, especially for September. The majority of Toll Gate High School does not have air conditioning, making this start of back to school brutal. Many classrooms felt hotter than the actual temperature outside, making it difficult for students to learn in such an environment. One student states, ”I just did not want to learn while I was dripping in sweat”, and that they only learned in the one class they had with AC. Many teachers found it difficult to teach due to the heat, and so they didn’t. Another student here at Toll Gate comments, “It was really distracting, I just kept thinking about how I was sweating and really wanted to cool down … also the school dress code couldn’t allow us to wear anything super short or revealing, so we had to stick to clothing that was still a little warm.” Overall, learning in an extremely hot environment clearly does not work well. A type of situation similar to this is bound to occur again in the future as global temperatures rise. One consolation to this would be that Warwick’s future high school should have AC included, so that future students will not have to deal with these problems.
