On the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting, St. Dominic held an intruder drill and a prayer service to honor the memory of the victims of the Parkland shooting.

It was a somber moment for most students and teachers, as they walked through a simulation of the very experience that only a month ago, students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School endured. Still, it was a reassurance to students to be able to see how dedicated and focused the administration and faculty is to the safety and protection of everyone in the building. Teachers and students were able to walk through scenarios and have discussions about how to evade, escape or engage an intruder, and how each classroom could be utilized to its utmost potential to keep everyone safe.

“Being walked through the situation I think was better than just doing the drill, because now I feel more prepared and I know my options if an intruder event was to happen,” said junior Kateri Koch.
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For students who expressed concerns about certain aspects of the drill, such as the safety of the stadium as a rally point, Mrs. Mennemeier assured them that administration was already aware of and addressing those concerns.

“As many things as [students] are thinking about or students have brought to our attention afterwards, we’ve already thought about 99% of them… We have spent a lot of time and a lot of effort, and rightly so, to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to keep the kids safe,” said Mennemeier.

In addition to the intruder drill, students gathered in the Oak Grove afterwards to attend a prayer service held in commemoration of victims of the Parkland shooting. Students and teachers alike joined hands to pray the Our Father, and ended the prayer service with 17 solemn seconds of silence in honor of the 17 students who were killed in Parkland.

St. Dominic came together to mourn the loss of 17 innocent souls and fight against a culture of death. We as a school community must unite as one to make a change in the world, uniting together with prayer and love.