The lockdown that we had all anxiously been awaiting for the
past month finally occurred recently.
The lockdown that we had all anxiously been awaiting for the past month finally occurred recently. When the alarm bell went off at the end of a suspiciously long brunch, my friends and I looked at each other and said, “Sweet, a lockdown.” Elsewhere on campus, the reaction was not so calm.
When the alarm, went off, pandemonium ensued. People started screaming. People started running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Students were literally sprinting across campus.
If a lockdown occurs at brunch or lunch, you are supposed to proceed to your next class or any nearby classroom. I decided not to go to my class and to go with one of my friends to their class, where we ran into a few other friends as well.
Once we were inside the class, we found seats, some of us in chairs, others on the floor. One of my friends pulled out a pack of cards and we began to play card games while a couple students constructed an elaborate “barrier” involving desks, a table, and even some brooms, in front of the door.
And so, we sat and we waited.
After about the first hour, we got bored of cards and just sat around talking.
After the first hour and a half, we got bored of that, too. We all grew restless, and wondered when they would come check our barriers. Finally, an announcement came over the loud speaker instructing us to go to our fourth-period class and wait for the bell for lunch.
We were all confused. We were being released from our classes with our barriers unchecked. The same question was on everyone’s mind – what was the point of spending an hour and a half locked in a classroom if they weren’t even going to check our barriers?
When I arrived at my fourth-period class, my teacher informed us that there had been 100 kids in his class during the lockdown. They had all been squished together on the floor with no personal space. That made me really glad I chose to go to a different class where we had only about 50 people. The next day, my history teacher told us that there had been 106 students in his class. I also heard stories of unattended classes of students, where there was a fight, as well as some vandalism and couples acting inappropriately. As a drill, many students felt that this most recent lockdown left something to be desired.
—
On another note, this past weekend was the last chance to see the senior play, “Damn Yankees.” I think this was the first school production I had gone to see since I started at Gilroy High. I wasn’t really sure what it was about, and I wasn’t aware that it was a musical until right before it started. “Damn Yankees” is about a man who sells his soul so that he can become the greatest baseball player and lead his beloved team, the Washington Senators, to beating the Yankees and winning the pennant. I had been told that this was the best senior play in years, and I also had several friends in the so I decided that I had to go.
I must sat I thoroughly enjoyed the play. All of the actors did an awesome job and I was very glad that I went to see my friends perform, especially since I had no idea that some of them could sing!
Coming up in a few weeks we are having a Sadie Hawkins’s dance. These role-reversal dances are always fun, and our school hasn’t had once since my freshman year, so everyone is looking forward to it. The girls of Gilroy High are already beginning to plan who they are going to ask and what they will make their dates wear. This time around, the females have the power, which is how it should be the rest of the time as well.
Deena Morsilli is a Gilroy High School student who writes a bi-weekly column for the Dispatch. Reach her at Mo************@*ol.com
