On the morning of February 14th, on, a day dedicated to love and joy- geography teacher Scott Beigel woke up and got ready for a normal day at work at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school located in Florida. With his papers ready and packed he headed to school. On this fatal day, a High school, a place of learning, was turned into a shooting range.

On this tragic day in February, Scott Beigel and the lives of 17 other innocent people have been lost due to a gunman on campus.

With the events that happened on February 14th, it is important to discuss the steps that will protect students and faculty if a similar situation were to happen in your school.

To amplify the safety for the students and teachers, security has been tightened.

The first step taken to tighten security happened in 2015. This was the year that the electronic locks on the main door have been added.

“It is electronic, it can be set up to lock and unlock all the doors at a certain time. Depending on who you are, you will have an electronic key to have access when you need it,” officer Pearson said.

The electronic locks have made it a lot more difficult to come into the schools building. If an outsider were to attempt to get into the school, they will need to ring the doorbell and wait for the front office to open the door.

There is a school policy that students are not allowed to open the door for anyone that is waiting to be let inside, even if the person outside is someone that is recognizable.

The importance of this policy is to ensure that no unwanted visitors will be enabled to enter the building. If the front office notices anything suspicious upon the guest waiting at the doors, they are told to notify security.

In case an intruder happens to get inside the building, there are steps students and teachers are advised to take.

The first step is to listen to the announcements. If there is an intruder in the building, they will announce “code red”. The main office will also announce the location of the intruder, and whether or not they are armed.

The second and third step differentiates depending on the location of the shooter. If the shooter is in the hallway your classroom is in, you must immediately turn the lights off, and move to the corner on the side of which the door is on and hide. It is important to make the room look like there is no one inside the classroom.

The next step is to make it harder for the intruder to enter the classroom. Moving bookcases, desks, tables, and chairs will decrease the likelihood of the intruder to come into the classroom, keeping everyone inside the room safe.

If the shooter is not in the hall that you are in, it is best advised to run. Find your way to the nearest exit and run. With this step, in case of a legitimate gunman, you do not have to wait for your teacher. You run until you feel like you have gotten away from the shooter.

One thing to keep in mind throughout this event is that staying calm and quiet will increase the chances of your survival.

To make sure students know what to do in case of an intruder, a school wide lock down drill took place on Friday, March 1st.

With the scary statistic that there have already been 12 school shootings in the first nine weeks of 2018, it is important to know what you are needed to do in case of an armed intruder.

Schools across the nation should be a place where students can come and feel safe while they are getting the education they need.