Survivors of two of the nation’s most infamous school shootings are facing an emotional week as some graduate from high school while others watch the demolition of the building where the tragedy occurred.
Survivors of Sandy Hook Elementary walk across the stage on Wednesday, 12 years after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 students and six educators, while Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be demolished in Parkland, Florida, on Thursday. fair, six years after 17 years. students and educators were killed there.
“Certainly, if you have had problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or any type of serious mental illness, then this will be a challenge. This is natural and normal with survivors of traumatic events,” said Charles Figley, a professor specializing in disaster mental health at Tulane University.
On Wednesday at Newtown High School in Connecticut, 60 of the 330 students who walked across the stage survived the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history on December 14, 2012.
“I think we’re all super excited about the day,” said Lilly Wasilnak, a senior who was in a classroom across the hall from where other students were killed. told the Associated Press. “But I don’t think we can forget… that an entire part of our class is missing. And so going into graduation, we all have very mixed emotions – trying to be excited for ourselves and this achievement that we’ve worked so hard for, but also for those who aren’t able to share this with us, who should have been able to. “
The memories of classmates who would not be able to walk across the stage with them because of that day left a lasting impact on many of the graduates.
“There will be many students who will have emotional reactions when thinking about these specific events. Even though we are all together, there will undoubtedly be tension. But my feeling is that if any group of students has thought about this particular day, or this particular graduation week, it’s these kids, and I think I’m optimistic that they’ll all get through it, learning as they do, as they’ve experienced. that,” Figley said.
“These kids I know have practiced thinking and trying to imagine what it’s like to not have that heavy cloud over their heads all these years, but I think I would bet that the students would get through it just fine,” he added. .
Emma Ehrens, who was 6 years old at the time, reported the events of Sandy Hook on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
“I remember being at the front of the classroom and he walked in and stood right next to me. And I saw all my friends fall,” Ehrens said. “One of the victims [who] couldn’t, he told me and a few other people to run, and we did. We ran out of the classroom, out of the school, and on the way we saw bodies in the hallways and doors ripped off their hinges. And we just ran and ran and ran, out of the school, out of the parking lot.”
Alison Holman, a professor in the department of psychological sciences at the University of California, said the week’s event could easily trigger depressive episodes or positive “what if” thoughts among survivors.
“It’s definitely something that could trigger someone,” Holman said, with possible reactions including flashbacks or putting a person into a state of anxiety.
Holman emphasized “you shouldn’t assume this will happen to everyone. It happens to some people, it may not happen to others.”
Meanwhile, family members and dignitaries were allowed to watch the destruction of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday, six years after the shooting left 17 people dead.
“Mechanical demolition involves dismantling the structure into pieces (not an implosion), starting with the top floor. In preparation, crews cleaned and cleared the building, complying with state and Environmental Protection Agency regulations for landfill disposal, and electronic components were removed for proper handling. Additionally, survivors of the tragedy, families of victims, as well as teachers and staff have had all the items they wanted returned,” the Broward School District said. said in a statement for BocaNewsNow.com.
The school district announced last September that the building would be demolished during the summer of 2024 after speaking with health and safety experts. Officials said the decision was also made “out of concern for the well-being of students and staff on campus.”
“It’s always a good idea” to provide counseling services, Holman said when asked how students should be supported in such times.
“It’s so important for healing that people feel like they’re connected to other people,” Holman said. “And a lot of times, when people experience a really horrible traumatic event, they want to experience that. Healing occurs in part when they feel like they can connect with other people who stood for the same thing and therefore people who lived through that event…maybe helping to build that sense of community among survivors is something that people in official positions could do to support survivors.”
Leading students through an emotional time like this is not an easy task, but one Andy Fetchik, former principal at Chardon High School in Ohio, experienced after a student walked in with three of his classmates in February 2012. Three others were injured , and someone will forever be in a wheelchair due to their injuries.
Fetchik told The Hill that the key to helping students through difficult times after the event was to ensure they took student contributions into account.
Graduation after the shooting took place in 2012, and “we reached out to seniors: ‘How can we help guide them?’ ‘What do we want to do with graduation?’ ‘How do we want to recognize or do we want to acknowledge what happened on February 27th?’” Fetchik said “A year later, we had an anniversary. I learned very quickly from the students that they didn’t want to call it a birthday. birthday. They wanted to call it a day of remembrance.
Before Chardon High School’s first Day of Remembrance, the Sandy Hook school shooting happened, reopening a still-fresh wound for its children.
The students decided they would write letters to Sandy Hook students to show their support.
“And we were able to do things based on [our students] and we were able to guide student voices so they could contribute. They were able to actively own how they wanted to recognize and do different things,” Fetchik said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
