Dear families of Newtown Connecticut,

As a student and a human being I am both shocked and disgusted by the tragedy that has occurred in your small town on December, 14th, 2012. The fact that anyone would do such a thing sickens me to my core. But it also does something else to me. It sends fear throughout my body. Fear for others. Fear for myself. Fear that no one anywhere is safe. It made me reconsider how safe I actually feel at school.

Ever since elementary I always felt like school was a place where I could be safe from the troubles of the outside world. Until that day. Ever since that day I’ve wondered what I could do to make schools safer. What I could do to prevent things like this from happening.

I would definitely try to increase security around the area, or maybe have better doors that lock from the inside, or maybe just having people in the front desk screen guests and visitors better. Because of this event I also just hug my mother and sister that much tighter when I head out to school. I have also pledged to start reporting suspicious things to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again!

yours truly
Alfonso Altamirano