Dear Members and Supporters of NEHS,
Once again, we turn to each other in tears, trying to comprehend the tragedy that unfolded in Florida yesterday. Questions abound, but few satisfying answers are found. Almost nineteen years ago, my home school district plunged into mourning when the Columbine horror occurred; just ten years ago yesterday, the campus of Northern Illinois University, home of NEHS and Sigma Tau Delta, was forced onto the list of educational institutions rocked by violence. And now Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a school with an NEHS chapter since 2005, becomes the latest to endure evil. Sadly, we are all too aware of the students, educators, and communities who have suffered their own school tragedies. At times like these, we must rely on each other for support and strength.
At the beginning of the February NEHSXpress, I happened to quote journalist Linda Ellerbee: “In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other” (Move On: Adventures in the Real World, 1991); as we witness troubling events, the “frost, storms and cloudiness” of our days, it is certainly good advice to hold fast to each other. Our thoughts and prayers go to the colleagues, students, and parents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School; hold fast, dear friends.
With deepest sympathy,
Dave Wendelin
NEHS Director
