Growing up in a small town outside of Madison, Wisconsin, I had the life of any "normal" kid: I attended a public school, participated in sports and clubs and spent extra time with family and friends. But, that was back then. Now, there is no such thing as a "normal" life.

As my freshman year of high school began, gun and bomb threats at school began to occur. By the end of my high school career, we had a total of two bomb threats and two gun threats.

I vividly remember sitting in my Medical Terminology classroom my junior year when "code red" sounded over the loudspeaker. We all rushed to the front wall of the classroom. Sitting tightly packed like sardines, my classmates, teacher, and I felt distressed and apprehensive over what was going on in OUR school.

OUR SCHOOL.

Many thoughts ran through my mind as I sat on my classroom floor waiting for a true answer. Is there a shooter in our school? Where are the police? Is the SWAT team here? Has anyone been killed? Why is this taking so long? After over an hour of sitting quietly, anxious and overwhelmed with emotion, we were finally given the OK to resume back to our normal class schedule.