Lights came on. Music stopped. Administrators yelled.

Everyone ran.

“I could see the genuine fear of students running out the door,” said senior Madalyn Youseff. “Even though it only took five seconds to get to my bag, five seconds could be everything.”

Running back to grab her purse, Youseff thought anything could quickly go wrong, especially during a scare.

The annual Homecoming Dance was supposed to be a meaningful experience when students came together to have fun.

It was a good time—until rumors began to swirl about guns, gunfire, and arrests. All the rumors were proven to be false, but the shadow of the possibility loomed over everyone packed into the school’s gym.

If something turns out to be indifferent later, it doesn’t change the fear a person feels through their body in the moment. That feeling stays with a person throughout their life and impacts that place for them.

“I can’t even explain how scared I was,” said junior Kaylie Yamada. “I’m shaking just thinking about it.”

Yamada’s perspective was that there was a rumor going around that someone possibly had a gun. (Police did not find a weapon on the premises.) Hearing this, she and her friends decided to leave. 

“I heard everybody screaming and basically running for their lives, and I was so scared I had no idea what was going on,” Yamada said. “ So I was just running, crying, screaming, freaking out, and I hid behind a cop car because my car was so far away, and I was so scared because I didn’t know who had the gun and where it was. So I was hiding and calling everybody, trying to see what I should do, so I called my mom, and she said, “ok, just try to get to your car.” 

But something else happened as well. As students rushed out, some falling to get out, others scampering to find a safe place, they did something that can be an odd product of trauma: they came together.

“As we were leaving, I was calling everybody I knew,” said senior Hunter Lammers. “I made, like, 40 phone calls that night. I would be willing to go and get anyone, no matter how far I was. Because I want them to be safe.” 

Freshman Lillian Fogle and her friends ran for it when they saw other people running. 

“I was still in my heels,” she said. “I just ran. We ducked behind a truck, and a car pulled up to us. And we asked if we could get in. They said yeah. Two other people joined us. There were, like, 11 people in the car. We didn’t even know one another.”

What occurred at WHS is what scholars call “collective trauma.” It’s when a group of people go through something together and are bonded because of it. These traumas are often born of tragedies that can impact or permanently change a group of people or even an entire community.

Research has proven that expressing the same emotions or providing support in the aftermath of a tragedy often brings people closer together, even people who have previously disliked or didn’t even know one another.

This type of bond was evident during the Homecoming Dance. Many parents felt their kids’ emotions in themselves that night, rushing back to school, blowing up their children’s phones, and calling everyone they knew to ensure their kids were safe.

 People everywhere came together to call people they knew who had kids at WHS to ensure their safety. 

Thomas Loa’s mother expressed her gratitude on Facebook for everyone who cared for her children and their friends that night, saying, “I am extremely thankful for his group of friends! Not one left that parking lot until they were accounted for. I am thankful for his friend who ran back into the building and didn’t quit until he found Pop’s, made sure he was out of the building and drove him to safety. It takes a village, and I am extremely thankful for mine.”

Through all the chaos and uncertainty, one thing was clear: when the worst comes to worst, indifferences no longer matter. In the end, people come together when they need each other during the worst. Students were calling and reaching out to people they don’t speak to, asking them if they were safe. 

Although the glitter from the dance has long been swept up, purses picked up from the office, and decorations thrown down, students say that day will remain in their memories as they collectively felt the same fear.

It will also stay because it united a community representing WHS’s values. 

Unity, caring, and strength.