MARYSVILLE – The home field stands at Marysville-Pilchuck's Quil Ceda stadium were packed to the rafters with students, parents, school district staff, government officials and community members Oct. 24. They came together to observe the one-year anniversary of the high school shooting by proclaiming "M-P Stronger" after having time to heal.
Although the event featured no speeches, M-P senior Alisha Purdom and sophomore Bailey Nelson reflected on the journey that they and their classmates had made over the past year to reach their current points of recovery from the tragedy.
Purdom, the student body president, spent her summer making 1,550 friendship bracelets to welcome each of her peers back to class.
"I'm a people-pleaser, so my biggest struggle has been to step back and let myself heal," Purdom said.
Purdom has seen her classmates go through phases of fear and grief, but she and Nelson have also seen them grow closer to their peers.
"I feel like there's a sense of ownership that I might not have felt before," Purdom said. "They're more involved. We were all so excited to come back to school. I'm proud of who we've become in the months that followed the shooting."
Nelson admitted there were plenty of times when she didn't know if she could handle the aftermath of the shooting, especially in the first few months.
"I had more bad days than good," Nelson said. "I would just random cry. My parents struggled to help me. I had to learn how to take control of my own brain."
Like Purdom, Nelson believes the shared tragedy has given the students of M-P a mutual understanding of each other.
"Our school has tons of different personalities, but when one of us is having a bad day, we all know why," Nelson said. "We just get it with each other."
As they look ahead, Nelson and Purdom still see a lot more recovery work in their future, and they both sought to reassure their peers that, "It's okay not to be okay."
"We're still a little broken, and we're all grieving in different ways, but we're all here for each other," Purdom said. "When some of us are upset, others of us can comfort them. I'm actually shocked by how smoothly everything has gone this past week."
Nelson expressed her appreciation to the community for its support, but asked them to understand that the students can't always be "M-P Strong."
"Some days, we feel really weak," Nelson said. "This past week has brought back a lot of emotions, with the anniversary. That's why the first year after a tragedy is always the hardest. I have more good days than bad now, but it's okay to still have bad days, and it's okay to get help."
As M-P's families and friends filed out of the stands to do their "Walk of Strength" around the track, they held hands and embraced each other, continuing to heed the advice of the song, "Lean On Me," that played after the moment of silence in honor of the five lives lost.