BOCA RATON, Fla. — There’s a level of exhaustion among students of college campuses like Florida Atlantic University today as they are seeing shootings at schools across the country happen more often.
“I hate to say it, people are caught off guard, but it’s like damn another one,“ said FAU sophomore Amy Hila.
According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been 67 mass shootings across the country so far this year. The most recent shooting was in East Lansing, Michigan Monday at Michigan State University.
Students like freshman Raymond Adderly are old enough to remember the Parkland shooting five years ago. He said it hits close to home.
“I guess what became most scary to me at that time was the fact that I did have people that I knew that went to MSD that I went to elementary and middle with,” Adderly said.
Even though FAU is an open campus, Adderly and other students said there are layers of security in place that help them feel safe.
"You have to swipe to enter the building," he said. "You have to swipe your card to get onto any of the floors—whether that’s near the stairs or in the elevator. So, I don’t feel like they’ll be an improper intrusion there.”
Another student said there are protocols and procedures in place incase of a shooting.
"Even if someone were to end up here and do something like that and we have an active shooter situation," FAU junior Joseph Javurek said, "we have a text message system that sends an alert out to every student."
Additionally, Night Owl is a service that escorts students after dark from point A to B on campus upon request. It's a valuable service, according to Adderly.
“Absolutely it’s a worthy investment,” he said, “just as much so as mental health is, which is another pivotal point.”
Students said the bigger picture solutions need to include conversations about how guns are getting in the hands of bad people, so students can focus on being students.
“School is supposed to be one of the number one places where I feel safe,” said Hila. “And I feel like nowadays it’s more common for the school shootings to happen. It just sucks to hear it every time.”
Small measures are creating a valuable sense of safety.
