Jonathan Pina was eating lunch with his friends fifth period Sept. 24 when a loud bell started to ring and the principal’s voice sounded over the speakers.  

“Everybody gather your stuff and evacuate the building,” Principal Winston McCowan Jr said. “We will all meet at the football stadium.” 

Everyone was confused at first, so they gathered their stuff and went up the hill very slowly. There were students walking, students running, students without masks, students with masks, mostly all gathered, scared, and stressed. 

Eventually, everybody became calmer even though they had no idea what was happening. 

“When we got to the stadium, we were told to meet with our sixth period teachers at the stands,” Pina said. “It sounds easy, but we had to look for a single teacher, while there were thousands of students, and all of Chisholm’s teachers there. Not to mention that there were also at least 15 rows of long seats going from the start of the field, all the way to the end of it.” 

Then it started to rain. 

At that time “keeping your distance” did not exist. It took a while, but most students found their teachers and sat with their class. Everybody was asking around what had happened and not even the teachers knew what was happening. 

 “I’m as confused as y’all are,” English teacher Ms. Capaldo said. “I’m just ready for this to be over because I want to go inside and get away from all this rain.” 

Students searched their social media looking for answers. Rumors about a threat to the school made their way around the stadium. 

 After a few minutes of panic Pina and his classmates realized that they were far from the school, so even if the threat were real, they would be safe. Especially since everyone at the stadium could see the police at the school. 

By the middle of sixth period, everyone was released to go back to the school. After the incident, the principal got on the intercom and said a couple things. 

“We apologize for making you guys go through this traumatic experience,” McCowan said. “But if this was real, we would’ve been safe at the stadium. I’m sorry for your inconvenience and have a wonderful rest of your day.”