MARYSVILLE — Deborah Parker, a member of the Tulalip Tribal Board and the mother of a Marysville-Pilchuck High School student, admitted her son was nervous about returning to school Nov. 3.
“He shared his fears and sadness with me,” Parker said. “Recovering from this is a slow-moving process.”
An estimated 90 percent of the students at M-P returned to school for the first time since the Oct. 24 shooting that claimed four lives and left two other students hospitalized.
Parker urged her fellow parents to reach out to their children.
“Just stop for a minute and listen to them,” Parker said. “I’ve been asking my son questions I never asked him before.”
M-P’s school day started at 10:30 a.m., three hours later than usual, and students were greeted by an estimated 2,500 community members as they arrived.
By noon, the roughly 1,200 students had received pizzas from Alfy’s, sandwiches from Subway, sandwich rolls from Costco, cookies from Albertsons and hot dogs from Fred Meyer, all served by employees of the Tulalip Olive Garden, before they headed out to Quil Ceda Stadium.
Each student had written a message on a red plastic cup, which they then shoved into the holes of the chain-link fence around the football stadium, spelling out “MP STRONG” with a heart symbol in the middle, as a crowd of up to 500 M-P alumni cheered the students on from their home team seats.
The M-P alums joined the students in the school gym afterward, where photos were taken and Tweeted of the students forming the letters “MP.”
Paige Helam was still Paige Cameron when she graduated from the school, and Greg Wright has since moved to Wenatchee, but the two members of the M-P Class of 1987 still feel connected to their old high school, where Paige’s dad taught for 25 years.
“My older sisters were in your dad’s classes,” said Greg, son of Marysville City Council member Donna Wright. “This was where our parents dropped us off and picked us up again every day. We did a lot of living here.”
Helam and Wright agreed that the community needs to work together to support its children through their time of trauma.
While M-P Class of 2008 alum Brian Pepelnjak was one of many who was surprised to have a national issue such as school shootings hit so close to home. Wright pointed out that “this was our home.”
Pepelnjak expressed pride at seeing so many of his fellow alumni, including those from 1950s graduating classes. They were joined by high schoolers from as near as Everett and Stanwood, and as far as Seattle.
“We’ve really become one,” Pepelnjak said. “It’s impressive to see what this community, and this whole state, has come together to do.”
M-P co-principal Rob Lowry reported that 100 percent of the school’s staff was in attendance to help ease students back into the routine of school.
Lowry expressed optimism regarding his students’ first day back, given that he spotted “more smiling and hugging than crying” among them. He credited the school’s student body and leadership students with coordinating the day’s events the week before, and promised that M-P would start school at its regular time Nov. 4.
Law enforcement was at the school in abundance that Monday.
“Maintaining the level of security we had here today would obviously be unrealistic, but we expect an increased police presence and security presence moving forward,” said Lowry, who pointed out how unfeasible metal detectors would be for a school with around 70 outside doors. “All our classrooms are pods.”
Several students not only utilized the services of the trained counselors on site, but also had their mothers in attendance. While they were encouraged to visit each of their classrooms, the students weren’t confined to a set class schedule on their first day back.
