I had to wait ten minutes in the heat
Graduation services were supposed to be held inside the building this year.
For the past ten years, graduation services have been held indoors. It was an issue that started due to rain, but people enjoyed being inside instead of outside because of the heat and humidity. Graduation services held in the auditorium are climate controlled with air conditioning. As the head custodial engineer, it is my responsibility to make sure the heating and AC system always works well. This can often be a problem during the summer months. The heating and AC system is about 50 years old. I’ve fixed a lot of problems throughout the years, but it really is time for the school board to make updates. This year during the graduation exercise, we didn’t have any AC at all. It probably would have been cooler to hold the exercises outside, but the auditorium was already decorated and things were set up. We opened up the doors, but it was still incredibly hot. Several parents complained about the air conditioner and some people wanted to postpone graduation services. It would have been a lot more work to move the whole event to a different day. The school went through with the services, despite several objections and complaints. Many parents opted to take their kids home, but we still had over 200 seniors walk up to the stage to get their diploma. It was a long and hot afternoon, but most of the parents and students didn’t seem upset after seeing their kids graduate. The school didn’t fix the AC problems until a week before the new school year.