RowanHamm

2024 was the deadliest year in American history for school shootings with 80 separate incidents across the nation within the span of one year. The number of shootings has been on an upward climb since 2008 with no apparent end in sight. 

Schools across the country are struggling to grapple with the devastating effects of these tragedies while best preparing their students in a practical and helpful way. Many schools across the country, including Creighton University, have turned to informational courses as a potential solution to this problem. 

This semester, Creighton required its law students to take two short courses before registering for classes, “Active Assailant” and “Stop the Bleed Kit Training.” 

The programs were initially launched by the former Assistant Vice President of the Creighton Public Safety office, Michael Reiner, a few years ago “because of the increasing threat of active assailants. From 2000 to 2019, the FBI recorded 333 active shooter events involving 345 shooters. These criminals killed 1,062 people…and about 20% of these crimes occurred in educational facilities,” Reiner said.

Reiner wanted to use his 25 years of experience as an Air Force Security Officer to best prepare the students and faculty of Creighton if such a crime should occur. 

His military background “as well as the latest information and recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, to build an in-person training program that lasted about an hour,” Reiner said.

Tyler Tschida, a current first year law student at Creighton, described the first course as “a preparatory course…sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).” The course focused on “three main options: run, fight or hide…and went through an in depth breakdown of each option,” Tschida said.

After going in depth about the options, “it got pretty grim. It started breaking down the chance of survival for each option,” Tschida said. 

Once the “Active Assailant” course was completed, Tschida moved on to “Stop the Bleed Training Kit.” This course was “focused on how to stop serious bleeding and how to use a tourniquet properly. Here’s where to put it and how to use it if someone was shot in the arm or leg or what to do if someone was shot in the face,” Tschida said. 

The “Stop the Bleed Training Kit” course was an addition made by Creighton’s Campus Emergency Manager, Pete Andrews, who believed the course would be extremely beneficial because “the leading cause of death during an active assailant incident is massive blood loss and the number one action to save lives has proven to be tourniquets and pressure bandages,” Reiner said.

Combined with the second course teaching the proper way to handle serious bleeding, Tschida said he felt as though the courses “were more fearful than helpful…In a moment of panic, I don’t think I would be pulling up statistical data about my survival chances, I would just go with my gut,” Tschida said.

Taking this course was the first time that Tschida had ever encountered a class of this nature. He thought it was “interesting that my first encounter with this was in postgraduate school since all of the statistics they were showing were in high schools, but if this had been something I had to do as a high school kid, it would have really scared me,” Tschida said. 

While courses are available to everyone, Reiner says he is “not authorized to make any training mandatory. Instead, the Deans of the nine schools and colleges can each direct their employees and/or students to take the training.”

Reflecting on the experience, Tschida said he believes that “this sort of thing will probably be rolled out for high school and undergrad students if it hasn’t already been, which is unfortunate, but very possible with everything happening in the world.”

Freshman Doris Advolo sees the courses as a positive. “I feel like that’s kind of important because it could actually happen,” Advolo said. While Advolo can see the benefit in having a course dedicated to school shooting safety, she does not know if such a course would ever make an appearance at Marian. 

Principal Dr. Susie Sullivan weighed in on the matter saying “any time you can train faculty and students on safety, it is beneficial, however I probably would not have a ‘course.’ I would be reluctant to have an intense training that causes a lot of stress and anxiety.” 

Sullivan continued by saying,“Unfortunately, this is the world that we live in. It is always a good idea…to be prepared.” As of now, a dedicated preparation course is not in Marian’s future.

If the upward climb of school shooting continues as predicted, 2025 has the potential to be a dangerous year for American schools. Now, it is up to educational institutions to decide the best course of action for educating and protecting their students.