School shooter drills help prepare for the worst

Imagine you are sitting in class and all of a sudden you hear the principal over the intercom announcing that your school now is in lockdown mode. Teachers rush to lock the doors before security starts testing the locks and the lights swiftly shut off. Everyone is expected to be quiet, but the room fills with giggles because it is considered all fun and games.

Students at Southwest High School are required to participate in lockdown drills, and while most students say that these drills are helpful, others say that these drills are traumatic.

Assistant principal and Student Services Director Magnolia Martinez said that these drills are essential to practice for students, staff and parents to learn and rehearse protocols in case of any emergency.

“I put myself in the shoes of a student or a staff member, and I am assuming that it is scary for them, but the more we practice it, the less scary it becomes and the more common it becomes, and that is the whole goal of having the drills,” Martinez said.

Kalany Servin, a 17-year-old junior, said that these lockdown drills make her feel safer and more prepared if an incident were to take place.

“I feel I would know what to do and have less anxiety than being put into a situation with no plan,” Servin said.

Martinez said the school staff is required to have a protocol for these drills to ensure students’ safety, as well as their own.

“We practice it so that students know how to react in case of an emergency, that the teachers know how to react, that the parents know as well because we do notify the parents as well that this is happening,” Martinez said.

Junior Sabrina Alford, 17, said these practice drills have prepared her for a real emergency.

“These drills make me feel safer by letting me know that staff and teachers have a plan if something awful like this were to occur,” Alford said. “These drills aren’t necessarily traumatic, but allow me to realize how cruel and awful the world can be.”

Leyna Lopez, a 16-year-old junior, said that she had mixed emotions about these drills. She said that replicating a life-or-death situation at school is not a positive experience, but the drills are important so people automatically know what to do.

“You’re normalizing the repetition of what to do in that moment. But at the same time, you are aware of what you need to do,” Lopez said.

Martinez said that the school does offer open counseling services for any students who suffer from anxiety or want to open up about why these drills are becoming something that they are no longer able to handle.

“The drills do not scare me, but the thought of a tragedy like this happening to myself, family or friends scares me,” Alford said.