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Columbine Shooting : A High School

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Emilie Barone Ms. Davis College Prep 1 18 April 2017 The Columbine Shooting On April 20, 1999, tragedy struck a Colorado high school. It started out as an ordinary spring day in Jefferson County, but it soon turned horrific. “The tragedy began at approximately 11:10 a.m. on that sunny Tuesday,” (Gimpel 27), right around lunchtime. No one could have anticipated the events that would soon follow, devastating the otherwise average suburban town. The lives of the students of Columbine High School and their families would never be the same after that catastrophic day. Two states away in Clayton, MO, Jenni Crigger learned about the horrific events in her office conference room. “I was with two of my coworkers, Donna…show more content…
Upset by the awful memory, Crigger shares, “I was four months pregnant with my first child...and I really started thinking, what kind of world am I bringing my child into?” The disaster brought to light just how alarmingly scary of a place the world can be. Crigger was one of many worried parents all over the country after the harrowing event. Many efforts were put into effect, at Columbine High School as well as others, to try and prevent future violence in schools. School authorities attempted to create a profile for potentially violent students, but soon realized it was a flawed idea, as violence doesn’t fit any specific profile. Anti-bullying policies were put in place instead, as it was discovered that the shooters had been bullied in the years before the shooting. Although the two didn’t attack any specific students as a result of being bullied, school authorities still believed the policies to be a strong plan (Gimpel 86-88). The hope was that this would help students and prevent further tragedy, helping any victims of bullying deal with it in a productive way. This terrible event brought into question the safety and security of public schools. Crigger recalls, “I really considered homeschooling after that,” Crigger, along with numerous other fearful parents, wanted schools to be more secure and safe for their children. Schools are a place for learning, nurturing, and shaping young minds. But after the shooting, schools were a place of terror
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