When I was a junior in high school, I was a TA for one of my favorite teachers. One day in January, I was sitting at one of the desks helping grade papers, when one of the counselors walked into the room to talk to the teacher. I heard her utter the words “…is dead” and saw a look of pain unfold on my teacher's face. The bell rang and I picked up my stuff, confused as to what had happened. The vibe on campus at that moment was strange.

My friends noticed people crying at lunch and everyone was hugging each other. Everything was a little too hushed for it to be a normal day, and we didn’t know what really happened until an announcement was made during 6^th period telling everyone what had happened. My 6^th period teacher could barely get through her lecture, wiping tears from her eyes the entire time. When I got to 7^th period, my teacher’s eyes were so red and puffy that it was clear she had been crying. Everyone was sad, and I remember getting in my mom’s car at the end of the day and bursting into tears.

That was the first time I had ever dealt with a death of a member of my community. Of course, we had heard of deaths of people’s family members, but that was a little different. This was the death of a fellow student. I couldn’t help but cry, even though I didn’t really know the student. I was suddenly aware of how small our school was, seeing everyone reacting in the way that they did. What I knew as a clique-filled school where everyone kept to their own groups became the most supportive environment. People were offering shoulders to cry on, hugs everywhere, and everyone came a little closer together. We had a basketball game dedicated to the student and everyone wore the student’s favorite color to the game. I’d never seen a game so packed with people, and everyone came to support one another. While it was obviously sad, it was beautiful in a way – seeing everyone coming together in a way that I didn’t think was possible was eye-opening.

Now, three years after that experience, another tragedy struck at my college. The difference here was that it was someone I actually knew. When it happens closer to you, you can’t help but notice even more how people come together. Students came together to help sell bracelets to raise money to donate to the family. In just a few days, we made over $1,000. People who hadn’t known the student well even donated just to help in any way that they could. At the memorial service this past week, the room was packed with friends, families, sports teams, and clubs who all came to pay their respects. It was a somber yet beautiful experience, knowing that when it really matters, people can come together to support one another.

It’s upsetting to think that it takes a tragedy to bring a community together, but it’s a reality that happens all the time. I find that in these situations it is hard to find the right words to say. What do you say to someone who just lost their best friend? I think that is why it seems easier to offer to help and be supportive in any way that we can to feel like we’re doing something. When a community is impacted in such a tragic way, helping and coming together in a supportive way is the least anyone can do. With that, it is important to remember that though horrible things happen in life, it is still possible for something beautiful to come of it. It can bring people and communities together in ways that wouldn’t have happened normally, and that is a beautiful thing.