Santa Fe Students Return To Campus 10 Days After Mass Shooting

SANTA FE, TX — It's been 10 days since students at Santa Fe High School roamed the familiar halls of their campus, and hustled to make it to class before the tardy bell rang — 10 days since one of their own allegedly took away their sense of security, and gunned down 23 people inside the school, killing 10 of them.

Ten wooden crosses — erected three days after the shooting rampage — remain on the lawn at Santa Fe High School as memorials to the lives stolen from the coastal community.

Teachers returned to the campus last week to gather items from their classrooms, and help prepare for the last day of school on Thursday.

Things will be different this week indeed, with the focus shifting to the healing process for students.

Last week, Principal Rachel Blundell explained in a letter to parents that students who were in the Fine Arts wing when the shooting erupted will be allowed in the school building first, and offered special counseling.

Students will come and go through one entrance and exit, through a heavy security screening over the next few days.

There won't be any assignments or tests, and students and teachers will only see walls that have been erected around the classrooms where many of their classmates were murdered or wounded on May 18.

"We just have to get together, love one another, and just persevere," history teacher ken Harms told KTRK.

Last week, Houston area sports teams did their part to honor those lost, with some sporting the green and gold colors of Santa Fe High School.

Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta treated the Santa Fe senior class to tickets to Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, and paid tribute to those slain at mid-court.

Meanwhile, several Santa Fe Seniors banded together to form Hearts United — a nonprofit to help raise awareness of mental health and to help victims and their families with longterm support.

Hearts United was launched on Memorial Day, and members of the Houston Dynamo and the Houston Dash were there to help, KHOU reported.

"We are mourning together, and we are healing together," Senior Annabelle O’Day said.

Click here to make a donation to Hearts United.

Image: Crosses line the lawn in front of Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. The crosses are a memorial to the victims of the May 18 shooting when 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis allegedly entered the school with a shotgun and a pistol and opened fire, killing 10 people, authorities said. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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