If you’ve ever walked into school looking amazing and walked out looking like you escaped from the inside of a tornado, then congratulations; you’ve met school air. What started on TikTok as a funny exaggeration soon became a shared experience of everyone walking through the hallways of their school.
What is School Air?
The term ‘school air’ does not have one set definition. To investigate whether school air is truly a real thing, we needed a working definition to guide our observations. Freshman Addison offered a good starting point, defining school air as “when you look amazing at home and horrible at school”, which emphasizes the classic effects on your physical appearance. This, of course, is what ‘school air’ is most associated with.
But, as junior Avery Hellman pointed out, school air goes beyond looks; it can also make someone “feel worse”, showing that the phenomenon may impact both physical and mental well-being.
Effects on Students
Whether it’s your physical appearance, or how you feel in school, lots of people complain about it. Some even feel ill: junior Ashlee Spradlin shared, “There’s no way I have a headache after doing nothing strenuous at school. My hair shouldn’t be messy either.” But, this could not be because of the school air. People may be feeling physically ill in school because of stress and anxiety. This can cause headaches, stomach aches, and nausea.
Two students even brought up the sanitary state of the school. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this school has some sort of mold in its ventilation systems”. The other student, Shay Uxer, mentioned the factor of possible (definite) unsanitary kids in the school: “We are a lot of people (some sanitary and some not) condensed into a small space with little air ventilation”.
It’s proven from the CDC that students are most likely to catch illnesses from school. Younger children average 6-12 times a year, and older students get sick around 6-8 times per year. This is due to close contact between students, poorly circulated airflow, and spreadable viruses that go around every year.
Beyond mental and environmental effects, we’ve noticed some common ‘symptoms’ of school air at Harrison. Nearly a quarter of students report that their hair becomes flat, frizzy, or greasy shortly after arriving at school, while 22% of kids notice changes in their skin, like dryness, oiliness, or breakouts. Some students, roughly 16%, find that their makeup seems to vanish as the day goes on (though this number is likely lower because both male and female students took the survey). Others feel the toll in energy and mood, with nearly a quarter saying they look or feel more tired, and a smaller portion, around 13%, reportedly feeling physically ill. Notably, every student surveyed experienced at least one of these effects, showing that school air influences both appearance and overall well-being, from fatigue to physical symptoms.
Is it real?
Do the students at Harrison high school think that school air is real? Yes, the majority of the wildcats have experienced the awful occurrence of school air and so have many people on social media. Because how come in the mornings you walk out the door beautiful (or handsome) then you walk into school, catch a glimpse of yourself. Double take and unbeknownst to you apparently you got hit by a truck and went through a windstorm because something attacked you. On top of looking crappy, you get some kind of ache, so it can NOT possibly be your fault. It is the school air! Or it could be all the nasty germs and lighting, but we have to be able to blame it on something.
Whether you believe the frizzy hair, messed up skin, lack of confidence, and sickly feelings are caused by an “evil magic” roaming the halls or just the “stress and activity” we go through daily at school like senior Kora Doolan, one thing is clear: school air isn’t going anywhere. So, grab some setting spray, pack a hairbrush and deodorant, and get ready; you’re about to meet it head-on.
