In this panel‑style conversation, participants reflect on a recent Colorado high‑school shooting and explore how families, schools, and communities can improve safety. They discuss the importance of recognizing warning signs, teaching children situational awareness, and encouraging them to report concerning behavior. The group emphasizes inclusive social practices to prevent isolation, the role of technology‑driven bullying, and the need for proactive drills and role‑playing (referred to as "movie theater training") to prepare students for emergencies. They note institutional changes such as the addition of resource officers after Sandy Hook and highlight the ongoing work of the Coach Tate Foundation in promoting continuous awareness and education. Throughout, speakers stress compassion, parental involvement, and community collaboration as key to preventing future tragedies.
Chapters
In Colorado, there was a high school shooting where a student was angry with a teacher, and he came into the school and shot a girl that was an innocent girl, had nothing to do with the incident with the teacher, and then eventually took his own life in the library of the school. And it was very, very scary.
It's just I'm sure that young man had some signs that somebody could have picked up on.
We think about stuff like this all the time. We actually had a class on it in my Wellness for Life class, being an exercise science major. We talk about what to do in these kinds of situations and precautions for ourselves to keep our family as a class safe.
And I think that's what we're talking about in this, you know, national security begins with you at home. Jeannie, you've been a parent, and, you know, Kayla, and all of us every day are in school, parents, Karen is at home. We have to empower our children. We've got to teach our children how to sense out strange behavior.
I think one of the most important things that we can do for our children is to teach them to always be aware of their surroundings, of what's around you. And if you have a friend at school that has an issue or makes kind of a threat or says something, always take it serious. Or, you know, lead with the compassion of your heart and think about, you know, that's my friend. What should I do to help him? Is there something that I can do without escalating the situation?
I think it's really shocking. And I mean, you can't really believe that happened because usually it's just like Oh, we're doing a drill, it's not real. Like, we can just do whatever we want, we're just going out. It's just a drill.
It's routine.
Yeah, it's just routine. And then when you see it on the TV, like, oh, that really can happen. Like, you're just like, whoa, like, I really need to be serious about this.
It's really hard with all the technology that these kids have today. It's really easy to try to get into that, that area where they can actually bully.
Well, when I grew up, it was a lot of bullying going on.
Because you're from Greece.
I'm from Greece, so I was called all kinds of names, and one was greasy Greek. And then, you know, when you're young, you look at, you know, I got, you know, you fight pretty much. But nowadays, people use weapons.
I think we could do a better job of trying to involve other students that maybe are left out or seem left out. Students could do a much better job with trying to reach out to others.
I like that one. That's very good.
And just, you know, help out because you never know what kind of difference you're going to make in somebody else's life by just simply smiling at somebody.
I would just say the best thing to do is to tell an adult because it's better to get them to help you with the situation because you don't want to try and situate with it on your own and try to solve the problem and then make a mistake and just make it all worse. So it's better to ask someone that has experience with The parents should also work with their kids.
I know that in middle school there's a lot of kids that are in the popular group, and the other kids try so hard to get into the popular group.
Yeah.
So those parents who have the kids that are in the popular group might try to teach them to learn to be inclusive of everyone and not, you know, make sure that as long as My kid is doing fine, it's okay. Role play is an actual integral part in teaching your kids.
Yes, I like that. And that's very key in security. Even when I was in Vienna with the Institute for Security World, they mentioned that. Introducing role playing, they call it movie theater training, and that's another way of learning. Not everybody is able to really capture the essence of what it is that's around them, what's lurking. But so that's really big is situational awareness and role-playing at home. I like that. I really like that.
Not only you're aware at home or in your community, but now these institutions are learning that we have to do better jobs of learning how to get our kids and make sure that they're safe, learning how to teach them how to be secure and aware of their surroundings in the school as well.
After Sandy Hook, I know in our small community of Burke County, there were no resource officers in our elementary schools, and now there is. Now there's a resource officer supposedly at every elementary school.
These are just jewels and gems that every parent can, and every child, can begin to think about. You know, we don't have all the answers today. There'll be some more tonight, and there'll be some more tomorrow. But at least we are now beginning to think about, you know, being that leader and being that person to reverse what we're seeing in dealing with these behaviors. That's what the Coach Tate Foundation is all about, is beginning to bring this awareness and keep it there. It's not a one-and-done. This don't stop. I know one thing I would give is continue to do what you guys are doing, you know, and lead even with other parents. So I think this has been a great discussion. Thank you.
