Students and families are grieving and processing the death of a student after a shooting Wednesday at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem. The school remains closed and counseling services are being provided at an off-site location.
Students gathered at a nearby parking lot Thursday morning to support each other as they tried to make sense of what happened on Wednesday.
"I don't know how to describe it, it just feels surreal," says Mount Tabor junior Conner Inman. "Like, I always see stuff on the news about school shootings and never thought it'd happen to one of us. But here we are, eighth day into school and had an incident like this."
Junior Luke Armentrout says, "It just feels really strange. Like, you can just feel something in the air that's kind of just different, like, everything's changed."
Emma McNeill is a senior at the school. "I mean, it's a place that we spend so much time and it's supposed to be a safe place, and now we have to go back there next week knowing that it's just not as safe as we thought it was."
A local pediatric psychologist emphasizes the importance of open communication in the healing process.
The first step to processing trauma is for parents to talk to their kids about the experience, allowing them to share thoughts and feelings. That's according to Linda Nicolotti with Brenner Children's Hospital.
She says limiting media exposure and spending time together can be helpful. Nicolotti says parents need to have their own support so that they can be available for their children.
“I think it's OK for parents in a developmentally appropriate way to talk to children about some of their own feelings and that might help their children open up about their feelings and thoughts about what's going on," she says. "And parents can create openings ongoing. Maybe a child isn't ready to talk about things now. Maybe they'll be willing to talk about it in a day or a week.”
Other resources include school counselors and primary care providers.
The community will come together tonight during a prayer vigil that will take place at 7:15 p.m. in front of Mount Tabor United Methodist Church on Robinhood Road in Winston-Salem. It's among several churches and organizations that are opening its doors this week to offer counseling and other support services.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity.