Over time it’s started to feel like there are more and more frequent school shootings. The amount of devastation and fear that a thing like this has caused, has almost become the norm. So much so, that most of us aren’t shocked when we hear of another. Yes, we feel the sadness, and the sympathy for the victims and their families. However, we don’t react like someone might’ve even just 10 years ago. It sadly isn’t even just schools being attacked. It’s anywhere. Most of us couldn’t tell you why these things even happen. However, recently I’ve heard students talk about them more often after the devastating school shooting in Michigan. So, what exactly goes through a highschool student’s mind when it comes to these things? To try and get a better understanding, I asked some students at Conway High School some basic questions. For example, when asked, “Do you feel fearful of going to school due to the large amount of shootings?”Jasper Morgan, a 10th grader at CHS, said, “Not really. My logic is if something happens, something happens. There are bad people who choose to do bad things, that’s how life works.” When asked about how they feel when hearing of another school tragedy, they said, “I feel sympathetic. The students, staff, and parents go through a hard time when their school gets shot up. It’s a sad thing that happens. It’s slightly normalized now with our shooter drills.” While we may never know just why these things happen, it does make you wonder if there’s any red flags to look for. Caleb Caughey, a Junior at our school, said, “None, it’s correlated but not always caused by mental health issues. The best thing we can do is prepare.” It’s hard to tell how long a fear of this phenomenon has been around for. Especially from students in school now. Most of us have always known of the possibility and been through drills since our early years. So, I asked someone who went to highschool just 6 years ago (….) Landon Whisnant, a 25 year old content creator of the podcast (A Questionable Guide To Life). When asked if school shootings were a frequent worry at the time, Whisnant said, “Honestly, a school shooting wasn’t even something I had ever considered.” Whisnant also added, “At the time I remember a friend saying something like ‘when would we ever even have a school shooting?’ and at the time I agreed with that sentiment. We had a ton of other problems, but fear of school shootings wasn’t one of them. There’s absolutely more school shootings now than when I was in high school.” As of 2021 we are talking about more school shootings, experiencing more of them, and yet still more desensitized to the idea of them.