wfn.org | Students at school near Columbine seek to turn helplessness into

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

hope

April 28, 1999	News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.  10-21-71BP{235}

NOTE:  Photos are available for use with this story.  

By Joshua Lewis*

LITTLETON, Colo. (UMNS) -- As the tragedy at Columbine High School unfolded
last week, students at neighboring Chatfield Senior High  watched the mayhem
on television.

 "We felt helpless. We all have friends that go to Columbine and we all know
people there, and we couldn't do anything to stop it," said Brad Laurvick, a
junior and a member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Highlands
Ranch.

But he and a group of students at his school were determined not allow
helplessness to become hopelessness. They formed H.O.P.E.S (Helping Other
People End Separation). The group's main project has been making ribbons for
people to wear in commemoration of the disastrous day. While many others
have fashioned ribbons from blue and silver, Columbine's colors, the
H.O.P.E.S. ribbons have a special twist: they also include Chatfield's
colors, burgundy and silver.

The blue and burgundy ribbons are formed into the shape of a heart and are
bound by what the schools have in common: the silver ribbon.

The gesture is one of unity, particularly because of the two schools'
historic rivalry. And the ribbons, which the group began making two days
after the shootings, have a special resonance now that Chatfield will share
its school with Columbine students in a split-session for the remainder of
the year.
 
The Chatfield students made the ribbons "in the hopes that they (Columbine
students) realize that they are forever in our hearts and in our prayers,"
Laurvick said.

The group will make a ribbon for each of the 2,050 students at Columbine,
Laurvick said. And they will continue to make them for any student at
Chatfield who wants them. They expect to make 4,000 ribbons before they are
through.

Many of the ribbons have already been given to students and others.
H.O.P.E.S. also passed them out for Chatfield's prom Saturday night. Some
students worked them into the design of their corsages and boutonnieres.

The group is also collecting school supplies for Columbine students, as well
as books for a new library at Columbine. 

"We're doing something. It's not a lot, but it's something," Laurvick said.

#  #  #

*Lewis is a freelance writer from Baton Rouge, La.

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