‘I felt incredibly safe;’ Local student reacts to school’s response during tornado warning
Schools across the Miami Valley practice tornado drills throughout the school year. Those drills were put into action Monday when severe weather, including tornados, moved through the area.
Students at Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering were told they were going to be staying late Monday when severe weather hit.
“The skies got really, really dark and it started raining really hard,” Lourdes Lambert, Archbishop Alter High School’s principal, said. “So we decided to start monitoring the radar.”
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From there, Lambert chose to keep students in the building rather than risk them going home in a storm.
“It was a little stressful, as you can imagine, but I think these decisions are not easy, but they are much easier when you put student safety first,” Lamber said.
Everyone in the school was kept in three separate safe zones that had no windows. Some students were lined up and down the hallways, while others from several first floor classrooms were sheltering in locker rooms.
Additionally, the school opened the gym up to parents that were waiting in the car for their kids.
Senior Mikayla Mihok said she stayed safe by facing the lockers in the hallway.
“I was right against the wall here. So yeah, I was just kind of stationed there for a little bit,” Mihok said.
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It was the first time Mihok had to take cover since she was in kindergarten. She said she was glad he school took the severe weather so seriously.
“I felt incredibly safe. There was never a moment in time where I was scared for my own life, which I’m incredibly grateful for,” Mihok said.
Lambert said her goal is to make sure everyone feels safe.
“If there’s a tornado warning, we’re not sending kids out in it. It just doesn’t make sense,” Lamber said. “Even if there had been no damage, no kids were hurt so we made the right call.”
The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that tornadoes touched down in Butler and Clark counties.
