During office hours on January 29th, Hellgate ran an “active threat” emergency drill. While some students found that it made them feel safer, many students found it disruptive, and others thought it was “useless”. Students may find themselves wondering if they really help any more than a simple verbal or written explanation would. However, this was not the first, and will likely not be the last drill done at Hellgate. Oftentimes, either by the law or the school district, schools are required to regularly run lockdown, evacuation, earthquake, and active threat drills. See what several students had to say on the topic…

“If we were to ever have any gun violence or anything, I think that the school drills would definitely be helpful. I don’t know about earthquake ones though because I feel like we never really have any earthquakes in Montana.” -Mila McKay, Freshman

“They make you feel a little safer, but not much. I wouldn’t say they’re stressful, I’d say that they’re more disruptive and not helpful, but I do think they are important so that we are prepared.” -Caillagh Godby, Sophomore

“I would say it really doesn’t make me feel more prepared in an emergency situation cause I feel like most of the drills are not very realistic so they don’t really replicate what would actually be happening.” -Gabe Kantor, Junior

“Yes, they make me feel safer but they have potential to be stressful for some people.” -Sophia Pierce, Junior

“I think it helps because, as a foreign exchange student, in Japan there is no threat… I would never have thought about fighting against. Here, in an emergency, you just have to fight, so as the experience it’s really important for me.” -Tomo Nagese, Junior