Demi Zhang

Sophomore Ananya Jain reads the earthquake drill procedures on April 23. Jain was reviewing emergency protocol after reading about the recent disasters in Nev. and Japan. Jain said, “It’s important to take drills seriously because you never know if one might happen. It’s always better to be prepared and not risk your life during an actual emergency.”

In the past week, a wave of natural disasters across the United States have emphasized the threat of severe weather and seismic activity commonly associated with spring and the months of March through May. In Nevada, a mid-magnitude earthquake resulted in minor damage, while violent tornadoes tore through Oklahoma, damaging many homes and destroying infrastructure. On April 24, residents in Carmel heard tornado sirens and sheltered in place as the area was placed under a tornado warning. 

 For sophomore Ananya Jain, these recent events highlight the need for students to not only partake in severe weather preparation, but also to take drills seriously.

“It’s up to students and teachers to take emergencies or drills more seriously because if students are laughing or talking during a drill, because they’re used to it or neutral because of how much they’ve been exposed to drills, they grow desensitized,” Jain said. “That can be a bad thing, so it’s important to always take drills seriously. Teachers can do that by modeling the kind of behavior they wish to see.”

Assistant Principal C.J. Glander, who coordinates emergency drills at this school, said practicing drills with discipline was essential to ensure students were prepared in the event of a real weather emergency.

“Just like any of our drills, we hope that we practice and drill with the seriousness and intent that weather emergencies could happen,” Glander said. “We have to be prepared, understand where we need to go and how we need to act so we can actively listen to any instructions that may come over a PA or from a teacher in any real situation.”

Senior Siyu “Sophia” Pei expressed similar opinions, highlighting the importance of knowing how to respond during a real weather emergency.

“Even if we don’t live in an area where major disasters happen a lot, it’s still important to take drills seriously. In a real emergency, you don’t really have time to think everything through, so it helps if your response is automatic and purposeful,” Pei said.

Despite the frequency of certain severe weather drills, Jain said this school is less for earthquakes than for other types of emergencies. However, Jain noted the school’s location was relatively low risk for earthquakes.

“For earthquakes specifically, I really don’t think students are prepared just because of our geographic location and like how frequently we experience earthquakes, but I will say I think students are well equipped for like tornadoes and thunderstorms, which I think is like our main thing because we do drills at school and I think we hear about it a lot in the news,” Jain said. “We see a lot of like warnings and we’re very used to it because of where we’ve grown up and where we live.”

Pei agreed with Jain’s sentiment, saying students are generally prepared for different types of emergencies, aside from severe weather that rarely occurs due to the school’s location.

“I think CHS students are somewhat prepared for weather emergencies like earthquakes. We’re pretty well trained for things like fire and lockdown drills since we do those pretty often, but we almost never practice earthquake drills,” Pei said. “I think a lot of people don’t take those drills as seriously anymore because we’ve done them so much. I see a lot of people talking and just not being serious.”

Jain expressed similar opinions. 

“It’s still important for students to pay attention because of what’s at stake; it’s literally their life. Students should have an obligation to learn to keep themselves safe. I believe that it’s not that much of a payoff. The cost of learning how to act appropriately is far less than the cost of potentially dying in that kind of situation,” Jain said. 

Jain said students can prepare better for severe weather drills by asking questions and staying informed. Jain added that teachers play an important role in ensuring students know how to respond appropriately to these types of emergencies.

“I think when it comes to emergencies and life-threatening situations there’s no such thing as a dumb question. It’s better to ask for it and like to know it for the future than to not say anything and maybe not be equipped in the situation where you need that information,” Jain said. “Teachers can make sure that they thoroughly discuss with students their expectations and treat drills seriously because in the event of an actual disaster or emergency situation, students are more likely to take teachers seriously when they know there’s a habit or history of them doing that.”

Glander said his role in an emergency drill included making drills nuanced so students can experience different situations, as well as observing different safety locations to avoid congestion in certain safety locations.

“I kind of oversee the actual drill. 
We’ve got different admin and staff located in different areas to make sure that they are participating, looking at any other areas that may be overcrowded, making sure that we’re making adjustments because we do our drills on various periods,” Glander said. “Every period is different. Some teachers may be on prep, they may have classes.”

Overall, Pei said she felt prepared in her ability to respond during a real weather emergency.

“I feel pretty confident about what to do in an emergency at school as I feel that this school has adequately prepared us for these issues,” Pei said.

Jain said, “We should always take things that we see on the news as a sign to act on our own lives. It’s really important to not brush off things we see in the news because you never know when that could be us.”

Glander said this school has made many improvements regarding safety and continues to work towards making the school more secure for all students and staff.

“We’re always looking to get better and always making sure that we’re following best practice when it comes to any of our drill practices, whether it be severe weather, violent intruders, fire drills and so forth. We’ve made a few adjustments with fire drills with the observant sides, we’re not just immediately leaving the building,” Glander said. “We’re always looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge and looking for ways to challenge staff and students to make sure that if anything were to ever occur here at Carmel High School, that we are as prepared as we can be.”