This is not—and should not be—what high school is.

The grief, the pain and the mourning our student body has experienced and is now experiencing again, anew, are perilously close to seeming like the norm. The loss of a young adult is a tragedy beyond what anyone—family, friends, peers—should ever have to experience. The vague familiarity of the grieving process, though, is terrifying.

High school is at times difficult. The years we spend here are formative, and pain and stress are to be expected. But these things are temporary, regardless of how they may seem in a given moment. There are many healthy ways to deal with these difficulties, as there are always resources available to those who seek them.

No one at Glenbrook North or anywhere else should come to see high school as a time when loss and grief come with the territory. It is not, and we can never allow it to seem so.

These tragedies have become far too frequent in our community of late, and moving forward, we all need to do what we can to prevent this from becoming any type of norm. Honor those lost by opening yourself up to others, seeking help if you need it and remembering our fallen peers for the beautiful lives they lived.