Narrative Essay about Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting

After a normal day at school, I make my way through the front door and into the living room, where I plop down onto the sofa and turn on the TV to tune into the 2018 Winter Olympics, anxious to see what event is taking place. To my surprise, when the TV turns on the Olympics are not being broadcasted. Instead, there was breaking news on a shooting at a school called Marjory Stoneman Douglass in Parkland Florida, just 30 minutes north of where I lived at the time. I did not think much of it at first, I had never seen something along the lines of this and I was so young that I didn't understand how serious it was. I tried to escape the reports by changing the channel but all the stations broadcasting the Olympics had switched to covering the shooting. Feeling defeated, I gave up on the Olympics and decided to continue watching the news. After about half an hour, the police had apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody. I turned off the TV and decided to get ready for soccer practice, not thinking anymore of it for the rest of the night.

 Days later I found out that 17 people had been killed, 14 of them were children. It was like a switch had flipped inside of me, I now understood how serious the event was. I felt terrible that I had dismissed the thoughts of those people and didn't think any more of them. My community and I were in shock, no one thought something like this could happen to us, or so close to us. Even though I was not in the shooting, I still felt a connection to it and the people in it. My community felt the same way, almost everyone had some kind of direct or indirect connection to the ones who were lost. For my family, it was a girl my sister had competed against at dance competitions. For a friend, it was a neighbor she had lived next to her whole life. It was beautiful to see how many people 17 lives had touched in some way. Our community joined together and created a memorial, bouquets of eye-catching flowers lined the fence of which the victims walked past everyday on their way into school. Some memorials stretched for blocks down the street covered with balloons, stuffed animals, flowers, pictures, candles, and notes. I had never seen so many people come together during such a sorrowful time. It was beautiful to see how many people 17 lives had touched in some way.

The shooting at Stoneman Douglas  did not only bring unity, but also change. It sparked a fire in many people that caused them to fight for changes in schools. Members of the community began to criticize the school board for not having adequate safety measures to keep dangerous people off of the campus. The school was also criticized for brushing off the reports students made on the shooter's reckless and disturbing behavior prior to the shooting. Soon afterward, changes started being implemented rapidly. In my school, they began to do lockdown drills more frequently, they installed more cameras, and added doors that could only be unlocked by staff in the office. In addition, the school hired two officers who walked the school at all times and began to strictly enforce the student lanyard policy as an extra barrier to threats who might want to get into the school undetected. The school even had an assembly on the importance of reporting suspicious or dangerous behavior. Teachers also went through simulations with the police department in case something like this were to happen at our school. Some schools even required the students to wear clear backpacks. It is discouraging to think that in order for this change to happen, that a terrible and traumatic event had to have occurred. Moving forward, schools should continue to strive for the best safety of pupils before something dangerous makes them have to change.