A teacher’s job often extends beyond education to inspire, encourage and prepare students for the future; sometimes even to save their lives.
When shots were being fired inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Conn., first-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis knew she had to make the impossible possible.
Roig-DeBellis shared her hopeful message about her experience on that horrific day as part of Penn State Berks’ Art and Lecture series Wednesday, Dec. 3.
Since the age of five, Roig-DeBellis knew she wanted to be an educator, but it was her own fifth grade teacher who inspired and motivated her to pursue her dream.
“She encouraged us to share,” Roig-DeBellis shared with those who filled Perkins Student Center Auditorium.
As a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Roig-DeBellis drew on her own inspirations to create an educational and interesting experience for her students.
The day of the infamous shooting on Dec. 14, 2012 began just like every other day. Ironically, after the class enjoyed the sounds of “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” from the Broadway show “Oklahoma!,” “rapid, loud shots were fired over and over and over again.”
With glass panes shattering from the bullets, Roig-DeBellis knew she had to act fast. She turned the lights off in the classroom, closed the door, and proceeded to pack her 15 students into the room’s 3-by-4 foot bathroom. Standing students on the toilet and paper towel holder was the only way to pile everyone inside.
The task “seemed impossible,” but Roig-DeBellis knew it was the only way to keep the children safe. Before that day, she herself had never been in the bathroom as it was too small of a space for an adult.
“You can control how you act,” she said. Once packed into the small space, Roig-DeBellis knew it was up to her to keep the students hopeful. She told them to think about the people they love, told them they would get to see their families again, celebrate Christmas and that she loved them.
The shots stopped and the silence overtook the school. After being crammed into the bathroom for 45 minutes, breathing became difficult. When a police officer came to the door, she had a student speak to him first. Roig-DeBellis asked to see his identification. Immediately he slipped her his badge, which she refused to believe was legit. She told him the police have been in the building long enough that if they were really the police, they would have the key to the door.
After trying a couple keys, the police opened the door to a rare sight of an adult and 15 children crammed into the small quarters. The students were also surprised to see 15 members of the SWAT team.
“It was a miserable loss to a school full of light and love,” Roig-DeBellis said. Following the tragedy, the students of the school received numerous gifts from across the country. Roig-DeBellis suggested sending something to a class from a different state, as a way to “pay it forward” and pass along the goodness. The students were more excited about sending something to another class than they were about the gifts they received themselves. From the initiative, Classes 4 Classes was formed. As stated on their website, the nonprofit organization’s mission is to teach every child “that our lives are not separate but rather completely connected, and that everyone has the power to take action and create positive change.”
Roig-DeBellis is taking the message nationwide as a means to give back for all of the support and love her class received.
For more on the organization, visit classes4classes.org.
