By: Aggie Rieger

The classroom was silent as students took their final. Then, with an announcement over intercom, everything changed. A tornado warning was put into effect, and the district responded by going into lockdown.

“People like started screaming and running away from the windows,” said sophomore Ryan Heinz, who was in the cafeteria when the tornado lockdown began. “We thought there was a fight going on but realized it was people running here, to the locker room.”

During third block the entire school took cover during the tornado warning. Students were crammed into the locker rooms and some filed into the teachers’ lounge. The time of the tornado lockdown clashed with finals for many students.

Some students took this as an opportunity to cheat by discussing the tests with one another.

“It’s kind of an unfair advantage, but there’s nothing they can do about it,” said sophomore Naomi Oither.

Missing out on class time was a concern for some teachers.

“Most were done [in my class] but I was a little bit panicked. I feel like it was a teaching moment where I had to adapt and overcome,” said chemistry teacher Bethany Hoff. “They’re going to be a pain to make up, but since this is the beginning of finals it should be okay.”

Administration adjusted to this by sending all students back to third block for an extra 30 minutes after they were released.  But in the meantime, students had to sit and wait for the storm to pass.

 “[It is] entertaining,” said sophomore Alexis Spero. “Seeing people out of their element is kind of entertaining.”

Students who were brought into the teachers’ lounge behaved well, according to chemistry teacher Katie Gerhold. The situation in the boys locker room, however, was much different.

“[We’re trying to handle things in the locker room] as best we can, it means trying to keep an eye on what they’re doing and trying to get them to behave appropriately,” said technology coordinator Todd Beeck. “After an hour and 15 minutes it’s a bit of a struggle.”

In the locker room, climbed on lockers, banged on seats and threw food.

The food was provided to all C lunch students, although some took lunches even if they had already had lunch, coming to the teachers’ lounge at 12:27 p.m.

“It was great for our school to provide lunches and drinks,” Gerhold said. “That will help.”

Students were fed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, fruit and milk.

“It was very nice of them,” said sophomore Allen Gibbs. “I wasn’t going to be able to eat lunch if they hadn’t.”

Meanwhile, outside in the parking lot, the weather appeared to be calm. Still, the warning persisted and at 12:36 p.m. staff in the teachers’ lounge gave students an update that another storm “showing rotation” had been cited.

Students were released at 12:58 p.m. to return to class.

“It feels great [to be out],” said freshman Chris Hogan. “They were throwing stuff in there [the locker room] and it was a little scary.”

Now that the weather has cleared, according to Beeck, administration will most likely have a debriefing meeting to asses the tornado lockdown and evaluate areas in need of improvement.

“I will probably suggest that we take a look at how we assign where people are,” Beeck said. “Kids end up in places they usually don’t go to practice.”

According to principal Fred Skretta, the lockdown was successful, and students were released on time to gray skies.