By Charles Louis Dominguez ’14
THE ROUNDUP

Despite the winter season, students from all grade levels regularly wear shorts on campus.

Students cite numerous reasons for this phenomenon including weather conditions, fashion choices, dress code restrictions and ownership, or lack thereof, of dress code-approved pants.

“In Phoenix, since it doesn’t have normal fashion seasons, it’s never too cold to wear shorts,” said Chase Hart ’14. “And since we can’t wear jeans, that limits us to khakis or corduroys—which a lot of people don’t have.”

Many students favor shorts because they consider Phoenix’s winter to be mild enough that pants are an unnecessary article of clothing.

The average temperature in Phoenix during the month of January is 57 degrees, according to weather.com.

“Wearing a jacket is warm enough to get you through the day,” Hart said.

Other students find Arizona’s winter best suited for wearing shorts.

“(The weather’s) beautiful, during winter, at least,” said Logan Myers ’15.

Myers, out of personal preference, does not own pants.

“I like to show off my legs,” Myers said. “I don’t own pants—they make me feel constricted.”

Other students on campus only own a few pairs of pants that are dress code acceptable—if any.

“I mainly wear shorts because I don’t have a lot of pants,” said Henry Erlandson ’15. “I only own one pair of pants, actually, and I wear them once a week.”

Despite the existence of students who wear shorts daily, there is another pool of students who only sometimes wear shorts, usually choosing pants when they get dressed.

Andy Herstam ’14 said he owns pants but wears shorts “on occasion.”

“I think it’s most acceptable to wear shorts on late start days,” Herstam said. “You bear with it in the morning so you can be comfortable in the afternoon.”

Since students arrive later in the morning on Wednesdays, the brunt of the cold is already finished, Herstam said.

“Some people are just better at handling the cold than others,” he said.