After the installment of a chiller at NC in the summer of 2014 that allowed for air conditioning in parts of the building, this summer the buildings and grounds will expand the capacity for which the chiller can air condition rooms, Buildings and Grounds director Kevin Mitros said.

“Our goal from the building and grounds perspective is to provide an environment that’s safe and comfortable,” he said. “I know that even when I was in high school and college that when you’re sitting in a classroom that’s 95 degrees, everything is sticking together and you really can’t concentrate so that’s really not an ideal learning environment.”

The installation of the cooling units in classrooms will begin on Tuesday, May 31—immediately after graduation. Mitros plans on having everything complete by Aug. 8, which is just in time for registration for the 2017 school year, and the hot weather.

“The heat in the classrooms can get really bad when it’s hot out, so air conditioning should make it easier to concentrate so that we can actually pay attention to the teacher rather than being distracted by how uncomfortable we are,” Brenna Sheehan ‘17 said.

In 2014 when the chiller and cooling tower were installed at NC, only a few classrooms at NC were able to utilize the new system, due to lack of funding and installation time, Mitros said. But this year, they decided to allocate some of the Buildings and Grounds budget to expanding the cooled rooms in the building.

“A big initiative like this should always be done in phases, it helps with finances and planning,” Mitros said. “You don’t want to take on too many things too quickly because then things could turn into a disaster.”

This year they plan to install the cooling units in 17 classrooms and several offices on the east side of the building between exit one and exit two on all four floors. But Mitros is optimistic that in the future NC will add additional cooling to classrooms as budgets and opportunities permit.

“We are always trying to better the environment for the students so they have an optimum environment to learn,” he said.

Many students are looking forward to cooler classrooms because it will help them concentrate better while learning.

“I think having air condition will positively impact learning because students can be more focused on learning rather than the sweat dripping down them,” Olivia Raphael ‘17 said. “In the few air conditioned classes I have I’m more comfortable and I get more work done because I’m not sitting thinking about how hot I am.”