Made primarily of cinder blocks, the buildings at my school are not particularly elegant looking. If memory serves me correctly the school was built in 1970 at a cost of $6,000,000. Pilchuck High School became the second high school in the district. The colors were green and gold; PHS was the home of the Chargers. With no two story buildings and covering almost 90 acres the campus was sprawling. Classroom doors all opened to the outside; at the time it was called a “California style” school. Didn’t the architects know it rains here? The community was much smaller then.
As a teacher I remember kids preparing for competition, practicing presentations, running for offices, and planning large scale projects. I particularly remember the daily interactions in the classroom. Sometimes it was an effort just to get everyone to sit down and stop talking. Sometimes I felt clumsy and awkward with a class or with something I was hoping to accomplish. Sometimes, certainly not always, things went smoothly. Sometimes the classroom was incredibly exhilarating. I enjoyed the good natured bantering with my classes. I enjoyed getting to know them as a group and as individuals. I enjoyed seeing kids gain skills and confidence; it was so exciting to see their eyes brighten and their backs straighten. How many jobs are there where you get to love 150 new people every year? How many? I had that job; for 36 years I had that job. It was such a privilege; dear God, it was such a privilege!
Breaking Down the Walls was a week long program involving hundreds of students and many staff members. Parents and other community members also participated. We worked to help kids see how much they really had in common with each other and to see past superficial differences.
On the morning of October 24, 2014 the unthinkable happened at my school. A freshman boy texted his friends and invited them to have lunch with him in the cafeteria. He walked in and shot five of them; it was vicious, premeditated murder. The killer then turned the gun on himself and took his own life. At this writing two of the five victims have died. Why did this happen? Why?! WHY?!! Why, why, did this happen?! I am horrified. I am confused and I am grieving. This kind of thing happens other places, faraway places, but not here, not at my school. My school is a good place, a safe place, a very special place. This boy shot his friends and his cousins; it is more than I can grasp.
How do people move on? Where does anyone begin? How do we start to find light again? Two of the shooter’s victims have died, two more remain in critical condition at this writing. Another shooting victim, Nate Hatch, is currently in satisfactory condition. He recently tweeted this:
Students and staff, take the cafeteria back; take it back! Show respect for the victims. Paint the walls, make a change of some sort and then walk in there together and TAKE IT BACK! Take. It. Back! Take your cafeteria back; take your whole school back! When the ribbons are gone, when the balloons have deflated and the flowers are faded it will finally be the staff and the students who make the cafeteria and the school your own again. Take it back; you can do it. Support each other, work together, trust in yourselves and each other. I know you can. It is in your hands. I know you will choose light; of this I am sure.