Columbine Mom shares what her town went through in the aftermath of one of the nation’s worst school shooting / offers advice
Cynthia Peterson is a member of the Littleton, Colorado Rotary Club and the mom of two daughters who both attended Columbine High School in April 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris stormed into Columbine High School fully armed, wearing trench coats, bent on killing as many people as they could. At the end of their rampage, 12 students and one teacher were dead.
Last week, on Tuesday, May 24th, 2022, an armed 18 year old broke into Robb Elementary School, killing 19 students and two teachers before being killed by officers. Both shootings sent shockwaves of grief, sadness, and anger through Littleton, Colorado and Uvalde, Texas. Both communities gained the attention of the nation and the world. A member of the Rotary Club of Uvalde reached out to the Littleton, Colorado Rotary Club asking if someone from their club would be willing to speak via Zoom at their next meeting to talk on what the path forward looks like and offer advice to Uvaldeans on what the healing process might look like and what steps can be taken in the coming weeks and months.
Peterson spoke to a group of about 20 people at the Uvalde Country Club on Thursday at noon, with an additional 15-20 joining the meeting via the Zoom conferencing app.
She had two daughters attending Columbine High School on the day of that shooting. Her youngest daughter escaped from the school early on. Her oldest daughter was not found until several hours later. Both girls escaped the deadly siege unharmed.
“Ok, it’s been one week. Now, it’s been one month. Peterson said while recounting the thought process she went through, believing that after a certain time, things would return to normal. She later realized things would never go back to the type of normal that existed before the school shooting. She went on to say the incident would be forever woven into the identity of the town and its people.
“It was never going to be behind us and that it was a feature of our lives, a feature of who we were forever going forward.” You may find that you’re different people; you’re changed forever from this experience. “
Peterson fielded questions following her presentation from those at the physical Rotary Club meeting and from those joining in on Zoom.
El Progreso Memorial Library Director Mendell Morgan asked Peterson what role the library in Littleton, Colorado played in the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy. At first, Peters said, their library served as a command center for emergency personnel and first responders. She explained that the school, Columbine High School,was the gathering point for our community, but once the shooting occurred at Columbine, their library would become a central location where the Littleton community would get together.
The students had a cheer. The cheer would start on one side: “We are,” and the other side would say, “Columbine!” Following the tragedy, this chant, this cheer became more significant and was a unifying statement for our students and community.
Peterson also talked about how important it is for the elementary aged children as well as teenagers and their fellow classmates to spend time together after the event. She explained that this togetherness and socialization helps them process the experience.
Prompted by a question from a member of the Rotary Club of Uvalde regarding the first year and community events in the weeks and months following, she said, in Littleton, some efforts were made to host events and activities, but the tragedy loomed over those events. It was difficult. She continued to say that many of those events would have an element of the school tragedy woven into them.
Over time, Peterson believes healing can occur and the pain will lessen.
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