BVSD Student Opinion Piece: Lessons learned from a High School active shooter scenario training

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As a student, I know that in the case of an emergency, I can trust my local law enforcement to know what to do to help me, but how do you prepare for a community’s worst nightmare? 

This summer as an intern with the Boulder Valley School District’s Communications Department through the BVSD Grad Plus Leadership program, I got the opportunity to see how our local law enforcement prepares for situations that I can’t even begin to imagine. 

In late June, I attended and photographed a multi-jurisdictional (local law enforcement and first responders from different local agencies) summer exercise at Boulder High School that prepared first responders across Boulder County for an active shooter incident inside a school. 

BVSD works in partnership with local law enforcement and emergency response teams to provide them access to school buildings during the summer to hold their training.

As a student I assumed law enforcement would do everything they could to help me and my fellow students stay safe, but until this exercise I had no idea how they did that or how they knew what to do in these situations. But these trainings taught me a lot about what actions are taken to ensure the safety of myself, my peers, and my teachers.

I never really thought about who would arrive first on the scene and how important and impressive it is that they enter the school during a dangerous situation despite the fear of not returning. There was an order for who would show up to the school first, in this scenario, it was a park ranger and two police officers. Following them were more police officers and firefighters and swat. As part of their training emergency responders run into a school they knew had a threat inside and risk their own lives. 

It was kind of crazy for me to see. I mean, I watched police officers run into the building saying they have eyes on the shooter. Watching SWAT running into a high school, as a high schooler. I know this school, I know people who go here. 

I followed behind the first wave of officers and the first thing I heard was a volunteer running through the halls screaming for help (this was part of the scenario, not real screams of help). It felt so real. Almost too real. The scenario participant was screaming and another was lying on the floor with fake blood on his leg asking the officers not to leave him. 

That was something I never thought I would hear. But the officers, they knew what to do, what to say. I don’t know how I would react if I was in their position but they knew exactly what they were doing. They went with no fear.

Listening to the sounds. The silence. As I walked through the building behind the emergency response teams the silence was deafening. I could hear myself breathing and the sound my foot made as I set it down on the ground. That was until the shots went off. I knew they were fake, the officers were firing blanks but the sound seemed to make my ears ring. It was so loud and then the silence was back. 

I heard bangs, I saw volunteers with fake injuries get carried out in stretchers and wheeled into ambulances. The EMTs, police officers, and all other responders know exactly how to care for the “injured”. It was odd, I was uneasy but felt protected at the same time. 

I stood outside waiting for the next load of EMTs to walk out of the school with the next person and got the chance to talk with a police officer who told me about why they do this. How it simulates a situation that no one can prepare for but instead must be ready to handle at any given moment. 

Unfortunately, the tragic events that have occurred across America and even here in Colorado due to gun violence are something that students are familiar with, and they know there is no guarantee they aren’t going to be the next news story. But the relief is that there are people who risk their lives for us, people who spend weeks and hours training for the unthinkable. 

As a teenager and a student, I shouldn’t be scared to go to school, afraid that when I tell my parents that I love them it will be the last time. Every time I walk into school I have to face the reality that I may not get the chance to walk out. 

I saw a training that not many people get to see, especially a high school student. It was an experience that has opened my eyes to the reality of my world but has also given me some clarity to know that my local responders and my school district have prepared for these situations.