VOICES FROM THE FRONT LINE: Three student testimonials from Bainbridge High students recount the authors’ experiences of enduring several lockdowns, and call for increased campus security measures. Students at Bainbridge and Eagle Harbor high schools will join a nationwide youth campaign to raise awareness and prompt police change Wednesday, March 14.
B Fenner offers the first of three testimonials.
The first time I felt unsafe at school was in seventh grade, when a bomb threat caused the entire student body to evacuate. Though many shrugged this off as “some kid trying to get out of class”, sitting in the freezing muddy field for hours as police and K-9 unit searched the area left many wondering if something like this could actually happen. This is not normal.
The second time I felt unsafe at school was in my sophomore year at BHS. A voice played over the intercom in my 4th period biology class, telling us that we were in lockdown. We were not told about a drill, and our teacher seemed rushed to lock the doors and get us hidden. Soon after, the threat of a gun on campus was confirmed. A friend and I hid in the closets between Mr. Z and Ms. Moore’s room, a place unlikely to be found by a shooter. I texted back and forth with my mom, “I love you” being the only thing to say in this hopeless situation. I remembered that I had friends in the library, a large room made of glass with very little place to hide. Had a shooter made it there, students could be picked off indiscriminately. I did not know where my friends were, or if they would be alive once ‘all clear’ was called. This event left myself and others traumatized, a piece of our innocence destroyed by the threat of gun violence.
This year I relived this trauma from the other side. I left BHS in my junior year to pursue Running Start, commuting to Seattle every day. Just one month ago, my sister (a freshman) messaged me that they were on lockdown. I felt the helplessness my mom felt in my sophomore year. No one expects their sibling or child to be a victim of these events, yet the number of people living that nightmare increases each day.
After a lockdown ends, we are often told to go back to class. After experiencing traumatic events such as these, we are expected immediately feel safe and not fall behind on our work. Not allowing students time to process or even discuss events such as these is a huge problem. Students are organizing walk outs to take this power into their own hands, refusing to remain in an unsafe environment.
The threat of gun violence at school has been a part of mine and many other students lives since middle school. I can follow active shooter drills better than I follow precalculus. Our school system is forced to teach us how to survive in a place that is meant to be safe. This is not normal, and this cannot continue. In middle school, hats were banned because they distracted students. When gum was found under desks, gum was no longer allowed. When we saw something that disrupted the progress of our school, we got rid of it. I often wonder why this hasn’t been done about guns. Violence occurs daily yet nothing changes, students will continue to be killed until laws change. Until the lives of children are more important than the pride of gun owners, death will continue to be part of the American education experience.
-B Fenner, 12th grade
