History Repeats
For students at Jefferson Academy, hearing that there was a shooting at Evergreen High School was less of a shock and more of a dark reminder.
When the news broke, it felt familiar. For students at Jefferson Academy, hearing that there was a shooting at Evergreen High School was less of a shock and more of a dark reminder. The tragedy didn’t just happen in Colorado; it happened in their own school.
“It was pretty shocking for me to hear,” described senior Bentley Nielsen. “My heart kind of sank, and it was scary to think that Columbine happened all those years ago, but it’s still something that happened 45 minutes away in the same district. It was heart-wrenching.”
The sense of painful proximity was shared by junior Anna Waters, whose initial reaction highlighted a concerning trend among her generation: desensitization.
“My first thought was just like, ‘Oh it happened again,’ because it kind of just turned into a common occurrence,” said Waters. “It’s really sad. I’ve become so desensitized to it.”
Senior Kade Krumpholz echoed this feeling, recognizing how the frequency of school shootings has dulled the initial emotional impact.
“They're still sad and everyone thinks they’re horrible but it’s not as devastating as they used to be,” admitted Krumpholz.
While some students struggled with feeling numb, other students directed their sentiments into direct action. Senior Cassie Davis, who dances for the Poms Team at Standley Lake, remembered one such gesture.
“On September 11th, we wore orange ribbons in our hair to school to honor Evergreen as well as a statement about gun violence,” Davis recalled. “At the football game later that night, we held a moment of silence for Evergreen. Not many kids were at the game, but everybody stayed quiet during the moment of silence. There was a lot of heaviness in the air that everybody could feel.”
For junior Ravel LaBerge, this call to action went further than the school grounds and it turned into an organized protest fueled by a personal connection to the event. She attended a Students Demand Action protest at the Denver Capitol, organized by East High School’s National Club.
“We walked through the streets for about an hour and we had signs and we had a lot of chants or, like, people yelling different things," LaBerge said.
Her connection was personal, as a close friend of hers attends Evergreen High School.
“It was definitely scary and a little bit shocking knowing somebody I knew was in the building,” LaBerge shared. “Her friends were [okay] but it was definitely difficult because she was at lunch and the shooter came into the lunchroom. And so it was a close call and kind of a wake up call for me [because] this can happen to anybody at any time.”
The tragedy’s impact resonated widely across all grade levels, though perspectives varied on safety.
“I mean, I feel bad for them, but I just hope they’re all doing good,” mentioned freshman Parker Leschuk.
For Leschuk, the tragedy was met with a hope for the victim’s recovery and a feeling of security. This event inevitably raised questions about student safety, revealing a split between those who trusted existing measures and those who wanted more.
“For me, school safety would be nice if we had something like a school resource officer at the school,” added Nielsen. “School shootings are pretty rare, but it happens enough. Just having a guy there would be comforting.”
Despite these concerns and the emotional impact of the event, many students agreed that JA’s daily culture hasn’t shifted drastically in the weeks since the event.
LaBerge stated, “I definitely heard people talking about it for the next couple days, but I don’t think it has made a really big impact on our community.”
For some, the biggest impact was the powerful and frustrating sense of history repeating itself. This is a feeling that brings the conversation back to the legacy of Columbine and a call for change.
“I think people need to understand that usually these things aren’t targeted and it can really happen to anybody,” LaBerge said. “The only thing we can do is try and make it less likely to happen. I think lawmakers and people in power need to realize that this is something that affects us right now. And it’s an issue that hasn’t gone away in the last 25 years since Columbine.”
(Art courtesy of Mal Memon)
