Mysterious Package Monday: A First-Hand Account

Today was certainly a Monday morning that no Mt. Juliet will soon ever forget.

The morning proceeded in its normal fashion: I woke up, got dressed, packed my lunch, and waited for my ride to arrive at my house to take my siblings and I to school. I posted on social media inviting students to come to the E La Vita meeting this morning, which I always did. We waited in the parking lot for a couple minutes once we arrived at school because they do not open the doors to let students in the commons until 7:40 a.m.. We all went inside, and my sister and I walked towards the theater to attend E La Vita. Taylor Berryman led us as he always does. The meeting did seem to run over today, though. We gathered in our prayer circle about five minutes before the bell was set to ring. I dashed through the commons to the B-floor in order to make it to Mr. Seal's AP Government class in time. I made it just as the national anthem played.

Then here's where things start to get a little tricky.
Mr. Seal went over everything as if it was an average day: we took notes over the bureaucracy, watched a Harry Potter clip, did a warm-up poll question. Nothing seemed different. But within probably about 30 or so minutes of actual class time, Mr. Brown's voice boomed over the intercom. Typically, when class is interrupted out of the blue, it can mean several things: we are leaving school early, a bus is late so do not count attendance, or there is a drill or threat. Due to the weather recently, we have been able to leave school early as a precautionary measure, but I didn't read anything about storms heading our way? Also, if it was a drill, the teachers usually would have given us a heads up.
He announced that we would be following a "fire drill procedure", but they would not be pulling the fire alarm.
My heart sank. I was confused and scared. I grabbed only my phone not knowing what was to come.

Originally my thoughts were maybe it was a gas leak. We left the classroom and headed towards the front doors to exit the building. Teachers followed behind their students, and also made sure students kept moving. It was made very clear we all needed to leave the building. What was concerning is that both teachers and students alike that I asked did not know what was going on. So, out we went into the open, thousands of students being led away from the school towards the football field and tennis courts. As we walked through the teacher parking lot, many took notice of the emergency vehicles already at the school (pictured above). I walked alongside some of my friends and tried to understand what they had heard about the situation, but most were as clueless as I was. The football field became the temporary home for MJHS students for the day, and all students were asked to sit down in the bleachers as they awaited news or further notice. I clung onto my friend Savannah, whom is usually always calm and collected in these kinds of situations. She called her boyfriend Noah as we stood to the side waiting to find him before we took a seat. He eventually answered and informed us that he was making his way to the bleachers furthest away from the school on the other side of the football field. That's where we remained for at least an hour. (This is just approximate, I really have no idea how long we were there.) Everywhere you looked, students and teachers were moving around frantically. Friends searched for friends. Teens called their parents with worry in their voices, while others just laughed and sat calmly.

It felt unreal. Some teachers tried to start "the wave" among students. I'm not sure who did it, but someone got into the press box and started blaring some tunes to possibly soothe the nerves of students? I'm not really sure. I thought you know, maybe they would announce something shortly about the status of the situation, but that didn't come until much later. I got to talk to Savannah though, which was something I haven't really got to do in a while. That was nice. The weather was beautiful. There were points that students tried to move in large masses even when no other news had been given. The lack of communication was kind of frustrating, but it was also understandable given the circumstances.

Eventually Mr. Brown did address the situation to everyone. He was all the way on the other side of the football field near the press box, so if people weren't quiet, we had no idea what he was saying. I don't remember the exact wording of what he said, but I'll never forget the moment when he said all students with keys and cars with them could leave school. Before he could even finish, students were jumping up in celebration. Everything erupted into chaos. No one was allowed back in the school to get anything.

I honestly had nothing to say and no words to describe what was going on. My aunt works as a physical therapist, my dad was at work, and my grandmother has been taking care of my grandfather after having his kidney stones removed. I didn't know how we would get home or how long it would take. I texted and called my aunt as fast as she could, and she said she would be there to get us as soon as she could. But I still had to find the rest of my siblings. Keri informed me to meet her at the baseball field, because that's where her class had been taken to. Hunter was supposed to meet us there, but eventually we just found him in front of the bear statue. Students were hopping into the cars of people offering rides to those who couldn't drive, and numerous people asked if we were okay. If I took anything away from today, it's that when it gets down to it, these students really do care about each other. Our aunt called again once she was nearing the school-- it didn't look like she was going to be able to even get in the "car line" to pick us up. She pulled to the side of the road where the buses were. I stayed on the phone with her as I searched for her car with Keri and Hunter trailing behind me. We found her and we were home bound.

In conclusion, today was a mess. A hot mess. No one could have predicted something like this, but I am so thankful nothing escalated to anything even worse. Due to the past emergency situations I have been in or witnessed, my brain automatically assumes the worst when stuff like this happens. The staff and administration mainly handled the situation with calmness and poise. I will be interested to know what the substance was that was in the "suspicious package" that lead to the evacuation, but it could be a while or maybe never that we figure out. I hate that we couldn't go back inside to get anything, but it makes sense. I'm not going to blame anyone for that.

Just another manic Monday.