Out of the Loop

February 15, 2008

This morning I was sitting in class when my teacher asked, “So, what was your reaction to yesterday?” I assumed he meant the presentation our class had been given about working with the school’s college counseling department, so I was a little confused when people began voicing emotions of fear, anger, and I knew I was out of the loop when someone mentioned a gun. Because I was seeing Rent I stayed in the city and didn’t go home until after the show yesterday so I didn’t see any of the afternoon or evening news reports. Sitting in class I gathered that there had been a shooting at a college in a rural area, but I wasn’t sure which college. I eventually did pick up a newspaper during my free period, so I filled myself in. Of course my sympathy goes out to all the friends and families who lost someone and the students of NIU. It seems to me that a lot of stories like this one are coming up in the news. It could be that after the shooting at Virginia Tech threats at schools are getting more media attention, or threats in schools are simply increasing. I’m currently going through the process of prepping for the SAT and ACT, and looking into colleges, so seeing stories like this make me wonder, should safety be a major factor in which schools I choose to apply to? The entire process of picking a school, and a major, and being out on my own is scary enough on its own, but fear for my safety really is a legitimate concern now too. I know that isolated incidents can’t define every school, or even the schools at which they happen, but the fear is still there.