Social Media Reflection

This shooting was the worst in United States history, and it left families speechless and people in disarray. Two teens committed the treacherous actions of that day. The speculations were that they did this because of bullying, goth culture, or music or video games; these though were all just theories and were never proven(history). After this event, schools, venues, and events have endured grand security increases in the danger of shooters or other violence. Throughout my school days, I have wondered why we do the silly lock down drills at school, but in reality, lives could be saved in the event of an actual attack on my school. I realized this my eight grade year at Guntown Middle School. There was an unidentified man on campus, a code red lock down would amerce. I still remember sitting under my desk, shaking, and almost to tears. I did not want to be remembered as just another statistic if it was a shooter. But it had been our lucky day, the man who had stirred up all the commotion was just looking for the school’s office. Those fears I experienced however, would stay with me. We all believe that we are invincible and that it would never be us. However, with the world as it is today, no one is safe. I have been affected by the Columbine shooting through security changes in schools that I

The problem with society, is that people tend to wait for the problem to occur before making a change. Troubled children and teens have always existed but unfortunately now we’ve entered into an era where shootings are no longer just seen in action movies, it has now become a reality in our schools. Why do these children end up killing their classmates and why the number of school shootings in America have increased in the past several years? These articles try to give some kind of explanation into why these tragic accidents occur. As well as preventions that teachers, parents, and the community as a whole can partake in. This paper will focus on these two main ideas or themes.

Columbine, 1999, 15 dead. Sandy Hook, 2012, 28 dead. How many of you had ever have to practice different emergency drills in elementary school? For either earthquakes, fires, strangers on campus… Now how many of you have actually gone through the real thing?

Over the past couple of decades, school shooting have seemed to occur often-- continuously shocking the nation and reminding everyone that no community is exempt from such horror. One main contributor of this hysteria is found within the media. At the catalyst of this hysteria, lies the horrific Columbine shooting in 1999. Since then, school shootings have received ample coverage-- some argue that this has romanticized school shootings, others argue that is has provided condemning coverage of the often insane perpetrators. In the first year after the Columbine shooting, over 10,000 articles were written about the event, likely setting the stage for the nationwide desire for constant coverage of such events (Elsass et al, p. 445-446).

How safe do you feel when you attend school everyday? Many students and faculty don’t really think too much about school being a dangerous place; however, after a couple of school shootings had taken place their minds and thoughts may have changed completely. On April 16, 2007, in the town of Blacksburg Virginia, a college student who attended Virginia Tech, opened gunfire to his fellow classmates. This shooting has been considered to be the biggest massacre in all of American history. There are many things to be discussed in this major tragedy. Some of them include the events leading up to the shooting, the timeline that the shootings occurred, the causes, and the significance in this particular shooting. The Virginia Tech is only

“There have been 220 shootings on school campuses in the U.S. since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, an advocacy group.” (Krishnakumar, Priya , and Len Degroot) Many people do not feel safe attending or sending their child to a public school where they are possibly subject to a shooting. School shootings were first initially brought to the attention of the public in 1999, Columbine was one of the first school massacres that was recognized nationwide. Because of the magnitude of the shooting there is an abundance of information online bearing information of the event. First off, the shooters had identified specific targets, athletes, minorities and Christians. The two shooters had planned the firing for over a year and thought out their whole strategy. (“Columbine High School shootings.”) There was no plan in place to react to this shooting, because nothing like it had ever happened before. Although if there was, we may not hear about Columbine to the degree we do today. Columbine still is the most well known shooting and the horrific impact is still notable today across the United States. In the eighteen years since Columbine in 1999 there have been hundreds of school shootings, ranging from grade schools to college universities. Obviously, school shootings are a big problem in the United States and hopefully in time with the proper precautions taken they will eventually be eliminated forever.

One of the most important news stories was the Connecticut School Shooting. Twenty-six people died that day, twenty of them were children. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza was dressed in all black with a military vest on walked in the school and started shooting, killing twenty-six people. When he opened fire, teachers were rushing children in the bathrooms and closets. A kindergarten locked her door, covered the windows and started to read her children a story to keep them calm. One parent that was there said when she heard three gun shots, she ducked under the table and dialed 911, letting the teacher and vice principle walk into the halls to see what was going on. When the police arrived, they had barged one room and told the teacher and children to hide in the corner. As the police officers were evacuating the

Bang! Bang! Bang! Thirteen students, one teacher ,and twenty-one other injured. Due to the tragic event that took place at the Columbine High School many states in the U.S have proceeded to enforce laws that will further ensure the safety of students, administration and the community nation wide. As for school districts new regulations have been put in to ensure the safety of their students and faculty attending their facility. The Columbine High School Massacre has let people know nationwide that school shootings can happen anywhere and they can have very tragic effects.

One of the most horrific shootings that scared America was the Columbine High School shooting of 1999. Though not the first mass shooting, this shooting was the first major school shooting with the death of 12 students, 1 teacher, and 21 injured. The two shooters were Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. Both of the killers were white, male, and 18. They had both parents, were both a part of an

Imagine a scene of unimaginable terror: several college students are lined up against a wall and shot, sirens are blaring in the background, and people are seen crouching on floors in classrooms and dormitories in a futile attempt to escape the wrath of a crazed gunman, who also happens to be a fellow student. By mid-afternoon, even the sidewalks are stained with blood and the atmosphere is desolate and aberrantly quiet. Students gather in small groups, some crying while still others make an effort to console each other. Such was the scene on April 16th, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia when Seung-Hui Cho went on a mass killing spree. In slightly under three hours, Cho managed to gun down thirty-three students and faculty members, injuring seventeen others in the process, before finally turning the gun on himself. It has been described as the deadliest shooting rampage in American history.

Rampage-style school shootings are rare and tragic events. Although measures of prevention have become more advanced, school shootings have increased in frequency over the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Here in the United States, they have become especially prevalent, with 63 shootings just this year (Acevedo). The aftermath of rampage shootings leaves gaping holes and questions in communities. People try to heal and seek closure at their own pace, but the biggest question most are left with is “why”? In Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, Katherine S. Newman seeks to answer this question. She lays out her research and methodology for studying rampage shootings and comes to the conclusion that shootings are not spontaneous, but rather the build up of psychological issues and negative sociological situations within a student’s community that causes them to seek to regain power over their own lives through a rampage shooting. The story Rampage builds out of the narratives of shooters and their victims along with national data and trends is important because it highlights the places that our societies fail in providing a safety net for deviant students and their peers.

Veteran teacher Jess Burnquist’s, “A Teacher’s Appeal: Reverse the New Normal” argues that the necessity for lockdown procedures and society’s passive acceptance of them is “unacceptable.” Using a blunt and shocking narrative and dark sarcastic humour, she delivers a acrimonious critique of society, condemning it for not only robbing her of the opportunity to teach, but imposing the responsibility of protecting her students on to her and her colleagues. Burnquist suggests emergency lockdown drills are reflective of an apathetic country, focused on teaching students to hide and prepare for an intruder, while failing to address the real issue: a society that generates a person—or persons rather—that feel compelled and/or in entitled to walk onto a campus and start slaughtering innocent people. She accuses our country of being desensitized to these massacres, and she suggests lockdown procedures are a submissive acceptance that disregards student anxiety and lost time for core curriculum.

I was in World Studies learning about gun control (and getting insults written on paper thrown at me by Chloe), when this scruffy looking man kicked open the classroom door and yelled something. He had sun-burnt skin, a stubble, and had a bald spot. What hair he did have, was dandruff-y and gray with age. I’m a little unsure about what he said, but I’m 70% sure he said “Control this!” Anyway, after he screamed at us, he… opened fired. Everyone ran for cover. Someone got shot. They went down in a puddle of blood. People screamed. My teacher tried to call the police,

In today’s day and age, social media is popular more than ever. Now, just by clicking the “tweet” button, you can expose yourself and what you put out there for anyone throughout the whole world to see. Twitter, Instagram, etc have taken over the world, with millions and millions of users that range from super young to super old. Personally, I have three different platforms of social media. These include twitter, instagram and snapchat. I am interested to evaluate how I use it versus how I consider myself to be in real life and on a day to day basis. I believe the way that I represent myself on social media has some similarities and differences between my actual self on a day to day basis.

Every day of my freshman year, excluding Wednesdays, Daylight by Matt and Kim blared over the speakers at 8:26 A.M., alerting stragglers that they had 60 seconds to hurry up and get to second hour. I rushed to my honors chemistry/physics class, eager for the day to continue moving at its currently fast pace. The end of the school year was quickly looming and to relieve the stress off some of the students, my teacher had us participate in an inspirational activity for the entirety of the period. The purpose of this activity was to have students anonymously express to other students the positive characteristics that they embraced. So far, it seemed like an excellent day, but the irony of this particular activity is one that will never be forgotten. May 12, 2015 actually marked one of the worst events to have occurred at my school, and it is one that will forever leave an impact on my life and the way that I view social media.