It was August 30, 2019. I remember the flood of students rushing out of their classes after the school bell rang. Most of them rushed home or rushed to other after school activities. NPAC students, however, were preparing for something much more nerve-racking: “Be More Chill” callbacks. As a new member of NPAC and a rookie theatrical performer, I never thought I would have made it this far. The fear of messing up my first callback took over me and I was convinced that I needed to go to auditions early. Sure enough, I wasn’t the only one. After a while, we all came together and began our vocal warm-ups. When we finished, the realization of what was next almost scared me. Little did I know that something much more terrifying was about to happen next.

The intercom suddenly came to life and alerted us about something that I was not prepared for. Something that I had forgotten all about. Our school was on lockdown. All the possibilities echoed in my head as I was trying to soak it all in. Before I knew it, Mr. Kitsu was pulling other students in the building. Then there was darkness. All of us were in shock. Many of us turned to social media to put together the puzzle of events. Though, I wished we never solved it. We come to find out that someone threatened to shoot up our school. As we grasped the situation that was before us, we all kind of freaked out in different ways. Some of us chose to keep it in and some of us did not. I tried to stay calm, but the storm of fear inside of me kept getting stronger.  The one thing that kept me calm or shall I say sane was Mr. Kitsu’s reaction to the whole situation. By remaining calm, he was able to reassure all of us and bring peace to an unpeaceful situation.

Though the thought of a shooter lurking on campus alarmed me, I couldn’t help but wonder what made them act out in such manner. In fact, earlier that day, I watched a video in AP Literature. The video discussed that when feeling attacked, our brain has trouble identifying if you were being attacked physically or mentally. As a result, the person could react in an explosive way. On the other hand, the damage could be reduced if the person paused and let their brain think it through. Then by moving on, the person will grow and be more open-minded of future situations. The person who wanted to shoot up our school did no such thing. Not only did it affect their life, but it affected everyone on that campus.

Reflecting on the recent event, I wish as students, we were better prepared mentally for situations just like this. I wish we had a plan or something for us to refer to under these tight circumstances. On another note, I would like to thank everyone in that room for being able to help each other out throughout the situation. Thanks to this event, I learned that in NPAC, we all have each other’s back.