Uvalde Elementary School Starts Up Again After 21 People Being Shot

After a heartbreaking school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, elementary students and teachers courageously started going back to school on Tuesday, September 6.

On May 24, 2021, a school shooting took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The result of this horrific shooting caused the death of 19 students and 2 teachers. May 24 was their last day of school. When such a day was supposed to be fun and celebrated by elementary students and teachers, it took a turn and ended up becoming a frightful memory for a lot of them. After what had happened in May of 2021, going back to school must have been both hard and scary for a great deal of students. According to The New York Times, “some local families are opting for home-schooling; others are sending their children to private schools. But many have said that a return to public school would be an important part of the healing process.”

Stewart Nowak is a senior at Palisade High School. He has seven siblings, in which four of them go to Holy Family Elementary. Considering if a school shooting were to happen at the same school Stewart’s siblings attend, for him it would be both “scary and crazy”. Stewart’s thoughts behind school shootings are that “they’re pretty sensitive topics. It’s a pretty serious thing.” Viewing the fact that school shootings are increasing, Stewart says that “mental health over the years has kind of degraded.”

The fact that many students were able to go back to school after last year's horrific event conveys the strength and fortitude the community possesses.