If you attended class on Monday, Oct 14, then I hope you did not have the same experience as me. It all started with a text that led to chaos, “SHELTER – IN – PLACE……Due to an off-campus incident, the Lincroft campus is now being placed into a shelter-in-place mode. Please lock doors and see email.”

I was sitting in the library when the text was sent out. I decided to use the bathroom inside of the CAR building when everyone was being locked inside classrooms. I tried walking out of the testing center, but I was refused entry back into the library where my belongings were.

Confused, I asked a professor to get my stuff. Before he could respond, he was interrupted by another professor who said no students needed to be locked inside a classroom. That’s when I knew no one knew what was going on. I could sense all of the mixed feelings circulating. With all the school shootings students see in the news, this incident caused some panic.

So I left, went back into the main floor of the library, where the computers are, and gathered my stuff. I did not want to be trapped in a room, so a group of other students and I went into one of the smaller group study rooms located on the second floor of the library in a more secreted place. Here there were fewer people, but the doors did not lock.

Again, teachers began to argue among themselves over what to do. Being in the library, I was constantly being told to go into a classroom then being let out. Eventually, 30 minutes into being barricaded inside this building,  I received a text message about my next class, and I began to get frustrated. I was marked absent, which would have a negative effect on my grades.

I didn’t understand why my teacher would mark me absent in this situation. When I received the notification on my phone, I was confused again. At this point, I was ready to go home. I went to the door where a police officer was escorting people back to their cars because it was considered unsafe to be wandering around.

I asked if I could leave, and the person at front desk of the library said, “You can leave, but you’re at your own risk.” So, I decided not to leave the building. I went to class almost an hour late.

Looking back, it was clear that Brookdale was not prepared for this situation, but who is? Luckily, my professor was understanding and fixed my attendance. After being let out of the library, students were then allowed to just leave and go home. I appreciated that. In the event , something like a school shooting really happened on campus. I personally would not stay in a classroom locked for “safety,” I will try my hardest to escape.

This situation did not affect how I view Brookdale. I think the staff on campus tried their best to protect its students. It just made me realize how real school shootings and violence has had an effect on students in the country.