Safety At UHS

Natosha Williams and Olivia Miller, Echo Staff

With an apparent increase in attacks and crimes around the country, safety seems to be on everyone’s minds. People are questioning how safe they feel at work, home, and school. Even with all the safety rules and guidelines, how safe do Urbana High School students feel?

Fia Svendsen, freshman, answers, “I do feel safe at this school, there are a lot of people to talk to and lots of nice teachers.”

Saba Manetti-Tesfaye, freshman, agrees. She says “I feel safe because nothing really happens to me.”

“Yes, I do feel safe here, and if I don’t, I have teachers to talk to,” says Tae’Geona Hill, sophomore. If a student doesn’t feel safe, they can always talk to teachers and other students.

Despite mostly positive experiences, some students feel that there are ways that the school could become more safe.

“I think they could organize passing periods more, and separate the grade levels so it wouldn’t be such a mess in the hallways,” says Svendsen. The rush of getting to your next class creates a mess, particularly in the middle staircase. There may not be much the school can do to change these things this year, so the students can try to find quicker and less used routes to get to class.

Freshman Elise Johnson thinks that, “The school should offer a place to go when the students are feeling overwhelmed and just want to lash out.”

“I feel 50 percent safe because some kids are not who they are at home, and think they can come to school and do whatever. The teachers mainly make me feel safe at school,” says Tonae Webb, sophomore.

Even when students are not in danger, some still feel threatened.

“I feel pretty safe because I haven’t gotten beat up yet, and some of my teachers actually care,” says Stefanie Kozlowski, freshman.

It seems that regardless of whether the students feel safe or unsafe at UHS, students should be mindful of each other and how they feel at school. With all the safety issues across the U.S., UHS will be sure to raise its standards to help students feel more safe at school.