In today’s culture, students talk about the latest school shootings and are worried that they could be next. They worry about their safety, and that their school isn’t safe and could be the next target. Here at HHS, there are many precautions taken to ensure that our school will not be the next headliner for the 5 o’clock news. 

The staff has to go through trainings, one of which happened just a couple weeks ago. The trainings teach staff how to make our school safer and what to do in the case of an emergency, like a school shooting or any other threat.

“I have stopped a lot of adults that walk past my office if I don’t recognize them. I ask them if they have checked in the main office…  I am very vigilant and cognizant when it comes to unrecognized faces in our hallways,” Guidance Counselor Ms. Ginger Steinhauff said.

All of the staff make sure that visitors have checked in, and even check students who have hoods up. They point them out and make sure that they’ve checked in, otherwise they guide them to the office. They make sure matters are taken care of in the best and safest way. Students also make sure there are not any unknown or unwanted visitors in the school.

“See something, say something. [Students] know more than teachers,” Officer Amy Willenbrock said.

The students can recognize something is off and tell an adult or even another student who will then tell a teacher. Students take action in making sure that their school is safe, and they even make sure other students feel safe.

“I do feel safe at school… I feel like there’s enough security or there’s enough precautions that people take to make sure that we are all safe,” freshmen Ashley Matamoros stated.

HHS has a training system which educates both students and staff on how to keep themselves and others protected.  They go through training with Police Officers that teach them the four E’s – Educate, Evade, Escape, and Engage – and how to use each of them. There have even been simulations of an emergency, in order to teach the students how to react.

HHS has precautions set in order to protect the students in case of an emergency. Understanding each situation and how to handle such emergencies are prevalent in each of the trainings and shape how our school is able to handle such emergencies. Through each drill that we go through, we are taught how to be safer and how to keep one another safe.