Columbine

10 years ago today changed my life. Today is the 10 year anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School. I clearly remember where I was and what I was doing and the emotions I felt as all the facts kept unraveling. I remember we were supposed to be performing "Cinderella" that night and after we had our final rehearsal the director came and told us we weren't performing due to the magnitude of the shootings. Columbine High wasn't a well known school for us. It wasn't in our district, but when I heard that it was in Littleton I immediately panicked that it was where my cousins were. Relief overcame me when I discovered it wasn't their school, but relief didn't last long. There was so much discomfort for days to come and I couldn't bring myself to go to the school for over a month. Once I visited the school it all came rushing back. It took lots of time to feel comfortable again. It's a 9/11-like experience for me and many people who were close to the events. Now as I teach at a high school myself I have become aware of the results of Columbine. We now have "lock-down drills" along with fire-drills. I take them extremely seriously and make sure the students don't treat it as the average drill. I am grateful that something positive has come from this and hope that high schools will continue to become even more safe!

A great memory I have of the event was creating a production on our memories and feelings of the event in our Musical theatre class. We were able to perform this production in front of a full house where some Columbine students actually were able to attend. It was a great way to emotionally handle what happened. The music piece I chose for this project and will forever remind me of the experience is "What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love".