Special Report From Columbine H.S.’s Newspaper, The Courier

by Pam Glazner, Co-editor in chief of The Courier, Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado
When reporting the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School, people seem to have forgotten the true essence of what the school was, is and always will be.
Despite some people’s impression, expensive cars do not fill the student lots and students do not sport designer clothes every day.
A typical student records his homework assignments and responsibilities for the day in a student planner with the Columbine High School Rebel mascot displayed on the cover. Some students scribble an agenda of club activities. The school sponsors numerous clubs including the Art Club, Key Club, National Honor Society, Unity in Action and Future Business Leaders of America.
The music program at Columbine High School continually draws huge numbers of students to participate not only in choir classes, but the annual musical. This year, students performed Oklahoma! in two casts because so many wished to participate. Younger students from neighboring elementary schools and the local middle school joined the Concert Choir in an area music festival. The band travels to other states and competes, representing Columbine High School with dignity and pride.
The forensics team had an exceptional showing in competitions this year and some members will represent Columbine High School in the national competition. The debate team also demonstrates great discussion and rhetorical skills as the members strive to represent Columbine well in all competitions.
The publications groups regularly bring words of advice, hope, laughter, news and comfort to everyone. The newspaper strives to inform all students of events while trying to entertain its readers. The yearbook staff works the entire year to produce a quality depiction of the students, faculty and the year’s events. The literary magazine publishes heartfelt, humorous, and thoughtful poems, short stories and artwork written and created by students.
The vast majority of students are hard-working and motivate themselves to dedicate hours of energy to schoolwork, school-related and extracurricular activities. Many students manage to complete assignments while working at an after-school job where they earn money for car upkeep and insurance, clothes and school dances.
Even in the hustle of a busy teenage life, many students earn extremely high grades. There are many candidates for valedictorian and a number of other seniors in high academic standing. This year Columbine boasted three National Merit Finalists and at least one became a National Merit Scholar.
The athletic talent at Columbine is amazing. The sports teams exhibited great sportsmanship and skill at all of the events around the state. Many teams presented the school with trophies and banners for their triumphs in league and state tournaments.
There is strength both inside the walls of the High School and outside in the community, where Columbine students make a big impact on others. Many students volunteer at local hospitals and charities to help strengthen and better the community, state, country and even the world.
The faculty and administration provide leadership, understanding, counsel and support to students. Teachers attend concerts and events, and spend hours helping students in need of extra assistance. Some faculty members sponsor clubs and others coach athletics. Some teachers even give students their home telephone numbers to call if they get into trouble and need help. The hearts of the faculty members hold deep compassion for students.
Besides all of these wonderful achievements, the main theme that runs through the halls of Columbine High School is unity.
As in any high school, there are groups of people who mainly spend time with particular sets of friends. However, general camaraderie in classes and in extracurricular activities is prevalent. Often students say "hello" to people with whom they normally would not spend extra time. Students meet new people and make new friends every time they sit near another person in a class or at an event.
At pep rallies and assemblies the different classes unite in good-natured contests to try to prove their class is the best by shouting their pride. Then the student body as a whole proclaims its unity by responding to "We are" with the word "Columbine." This often brings tears to many because the family feeling among nearly 2,000 students surfaces through the chant.
Principal Frank DeAngelis always says to his students that he believes Columbine High School to be the finest high school in the state of Colorado. His students continually exemplify this and will for years to come.
In this terrible tragedy, Columbine High School as a whole united even more.
Columbine High School will remember this horrific event, but Columbine will also survive.
Pam Glazner said she is doing better than most of the teens who were inside Colombine High School when students opened fire on students last week. She was in the chorus room when she heard the gunfire and she ran from the building without seeing any of the blood.
Pam, 18, is co-editor in chief of the Columbine High School newspaper also named The Courier. She has worked on the paper for three years and I called her with a tight deadline. It was Monday afternoon and I needed a story by the end of the night.
As is traditional amongst journalists, Pam filled in the details surrounding her story. She had once interviewed victim Dave Sanders as a coach for a sports story. He was "very nice and busy," she remembered.
She had been in classes with students who were killed in the gunfire and passed shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the hall. Lauren Townsend was killed in the shooting spree and had been her friend. They were in class together and had spent a lot of time together during a two week A.P. English trip to England. Lauren was "really studious and a very sweet person."
The "biggest surprise" among the students she spoke to who were friends of Eric and Dylan "was that it was these two boys. It was like they were living two lives almost."
She reported that although her school does have ethnic diversity, there are "very few minorities" and any incidents of racial tension that occured prior to the shooting were "isolated" and among "individuals."
The last issue of The Courier of Columbine High did carry a crime story about a robbery at a local McDonald’s, but Pam herself has never written a crime story for the paper.
At the very end of a New York daily newspaper story on the shooting, Pam was quoted as saying "This is not Columbine. Columbine is a wonderful, wonderful school."
The story she filed with me from Littleton, Colorado was eloquently written and needed no editing. It shocked me with its lack of sensationalism — a senior from one Queens high school might point to their school with the same school spirit and pride. The following is Pam’s feature story . . . this time for The Queens Courier.
— Tamara Hartman, editor in chief, The Courier newspapers