On Aug 27 2025 the entire Roosevelt Volleyball program was sitting in a large circle facing Coach J and the promethean board, writing down their process goals for the season on a sheet of paper.
Coach J begins to talk to the players again and I looked at the clock signaling the time as 10:11 am. Practice for the lower teams is over, they should be leaving and Varsity should be starting our second practice now. Something was wrong. I looked over to my friend who was managing and had spoken to Mr. Gonzalez who had entered the gym with a concerned look. She must’ve been able to tell by the look on my face but she nodded slowly. I got up and spoke to her.
She confirms what I was thinking and my heart drops.
I am taken back to Dec 2 2019.
About 30 minutes later Coach J shares the news with the whole program.
“There was a school shooting a few miles away at Annunciation Catholic School.” I watched as all my teammates’ faces dropped as none of them knew the danger we were near.
Robert Westman had no past criminal records. Robert acquired firearms legally on many different occasions. And moved past the “red flag” law when purchasing the firearm. 2 young children were killed and 30 people were injured, sadly mass shootings are becoming an endemic, just miles away this tragedy hit close to home greatly impacting the community.
Why does it take a tragedy to take action?
I was taken back to Dec 2 2019, when my parents shared that one of my friends, his brother and mother had been killed.
The morning of Dec 2 2019 is engraved in my mind forever, I refuse to let myself forget.
Sitting in our morning meeting circle my 5th grade teacher Mr.Alex repeats the news I had learned earlier, thats when it hit me, when it became real.
It became real when William and Nelson hadn’t walked through the doors of Whitter Elementary that morning, when there was one less person playing football on the field during recess, and when the lunchroom sat just a bit quieter.
My friends had died. At 11 years old I was supposed to comprehend that gun violence took my friend’s life.
I sat on a bench in the Central Lutheran church downtown during their funeral, listening to my 11 year old friend trying to stand in front of all William’s friends and family and speak about him
I made eye contact with my 2nd grade teacher, balling her eyes out while I sat there, my eyes dry, not letting myself accept them being gone.
As I grew older I learned the cruel truth behind their passing.
We place their picture on our altar each year as Dec 1st approaches,
Everytime I eat veggie straws I pretend I am smoking them just like William did,
Everytime I see a lightsaber an image of nelson pops into my mind,
Whenever I play frogger, use cottonballs, throw a football, or sing rudolph the red nose reindeer I am reminded of Williams laugh,
I wear orange and think of William,
I write their names and December 1st 2019 on my hair tie every time I play volleyball,
I wish I didn’t have to do any of these things.
The firearm that took my 11 and 8 year olds friends lives was legally bought. The shooter had no past criminal record and was a trusted person in their lives and he ended their lives.
When will the cycle be broken?
As a 16 year old working at a summer camp, I never imagined having to map out the island for where to take handfuls of children in case a threat with a weapon came into the camp.
At every activity I lead I tell myself the best way to keep the children safe, where to hide them, where to run.
At swimming progressive we will go under the aquajump, at target sports we will hide deep on the path or leave across the isthmus to Ted’s house, at arts and crafts we will hide in the staff room and close the garage doors.
At school I know how to escape or hide in each of my classrooms.
Mr.Fitz, Ms.Jensen and Ms.Novak all are on the first floor and their windows open up very easily, my third floor classes I know where to hide and how to block doors and windows.
When did gun violence become so desensitized?
Children in 2025 should not have plans on how to survive their day to day life, schools and camps are places where you learn and have fun, not where you get scared if your principal comes on the loudspeaker calling a hold in place.
According to the GVA (gun violence archive) which defines a mass shooting with at least 4 people injured or killed excluding the shooter,
There have been around 57 mass shootings in the US since Aug 27 2025. The daily-death-by guns claims that gun violence takes more than 30,000 lives per year.
The Trump administration has not given any effort toward taking action against guns. If anything the administration has made the conditions worse, on July 4th 2025 President Trump signed the “Big, Beautiful, Bill” which made it cheaper and easier to buy highly dangerous and regulated weapons.
Early in his days as president in 2025 Trump also shattered the “White house office of gun violence prevention” which was created by Joe Biden in 2023 to help coordinate federal gun violence prevention efforts. Trump doing so made it easier for domestic abusers and felons to regain access towards firearms, and eliminated huge progress against gun violence.
The numbers are building up uncontrollably and our government isn’t doing enough to stop it.
How can we prioritize this urgent crisis in our country? This should not be my norm, our norm.
