Pack the Gym’s unprecedented gun scare has left lasting impacts on Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) students.
Last Friday, a student brought a fake gun and pocketknife to the home basketball game and Pack the Gym event. The administration and staff defused the situation and ultimately sent all students off campus, effectively cancelling the dance. Various opinions remain carried throughout the student body.
“Mr. Smith, the principal, called home. He was like, the dance is cancelled because someone brought a fake gun to school. It was Friday night, I was falling asleep watching YouTube. I was like, ‘Whoa, okay.’ I felt surprised. Generally, I still feel safe coming to school, but if we could bump up the security, that’d be cool,” said Davin Nguyen (‘19). Photo by Bethany Pham.
“In my first period math class on Monday, my teacher was saying, ‘Oh, in case you wanted to know, there was a dance that a student showed up intoxicated with a BB gun and pocket knife on him.’ If I ever go to an event this year like Spring Festival, I’ll try to be extra careful with all this in mind, but overall, Fountain Valley is a safe school, and I have faith in the administration. They handled it all very well,” said Salem Qadir (‘18). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“I read the story [about the gun scare] off of Baron News on Friday night. I feel unsafe about it since people can sneak in fake guns, but there’s always a chance the next could be a real one. Although I do feel some comfort at this school since they’re able to take care of it properly, I’m worried that the administration went overboard with everything, and I think we could have handled it differently. I heard they tackled the kid, and I’m not saying that what they did was perfect, but it was well executed,” said Kaitlin Tran (‘18). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“I saw the gun scare story on Twitter and a bunch of people complaining about it on the day of. It’s kinda scary, but since the principal and whoever decided to keep school, I’m thinking it’s fairly safe. I’m still a bit scared, but it’s normal. You’ll always be scared, like you can’t walk down a street not think about that one possibility. But some of my teachers answered our questions since other students were scared,” said Sarah Alshoubaki (‘17). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“I was in my home during the dance, but I had friends go that told me the dance was cancelled for some reason. Then I saw the story that someone had brought a fake gun to school on social media the night it happened. I’ve only been talking to friends about it, like ‘Hey, have you heard about it?’ and stuff. I’m sure that something will be done about this, but I’m just a little bit worried, a bit spooked,” said Steven Morales (‘20). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“It was first period on Monday when my teacher started talking about the gun incident; we talked about specifics and what we thought had happened. I’m pretty okay about the situation, but what happened was pretty unexpected and surprising. I still feel safe.I heard some kids actually noticed the kid who had the gun and alerted authorities. The administration did well in handling the whole thing,” said Caroline Nelson (‘20). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“My mom got a phone call from Mr. Smith on Sunday, because I didn’t go, and he announced that everything was okay and [the Pack the Gym dance] was cancelled. I feel like our staff is trained to protect us, and this type of situation [now that it has happened] won’t be a surprise to us anymore. Now we’ve seen this kind of stuff. It’s still scary to think that it could have been a real gun, it could have actually happened. But knowing that our staff are willing to jump in front of someone to protect us, I feel very safe coming to school,” said Taylor Diamond (‘18). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“I saw the gun scare story on Facebook the night it happened. It’s scary to think that someone would bring a fake gun to school; it’s kinda dumb. Since it wasn’t a real gun, I still feel kinda safe, but definitely not as safe as before,“ said Tiffany Truong (‘19). Photo by Calvin Tran.
“I was there during the gun scare; we were in line for the dance, and we all got moved into the cafeteria where Dr. Smith told everyone what had happened. It was a scary experience, but I was a bit mad because it would be my last dance with my friends because not everyone could go to prom. But at the same time, I was relieved because it really showed that the school is worried about us since sometimes students can be a little iffy and they may think the school doesn’t actually care for them like ‘Oh, they’re making money,’ but the truth is that they care a lot about you. Coming to school is a little different for me now because the fact that someone could bring a fake gun into a basketball game and dance shows that maybe we need to up the security a little bit. I mean, if someone could bring in a fake gun into school, then someone could definitely bring in an actual gun just as easily,” said Dylan Huynh (‘17). Photo by Calvin Tran.
