Students reach out to PCHS, HHS

In trying and difficult times, many people don’t realize that teenagers understand a lot more than they’re given credit for.

This age group is often pushed aside and overlooked because it’s assumed they’d rather be surfing the Internet or texting their friends instead of doing something that would benefit others.

But students in schools around the state, and particularly in this area, have stepped up to the plate to help their peers during one of the most difficult times in their young lives.

This past week, Phil Campbell High School and Phil Campbell Elementary School resumed classes, with the high school meeting at nearby Northwest-Shoals Community College’s Phil Campbell campus due to the destruction at their school and the elementary school resuming classes later in the week due to the funeral services for one of their teachers and two of their students.

The students were attempting to return to a normal schedule but there’s no question they were doing so with heavy hearts. With 26 people killed and hundreds of homes destroyed in the tight-knit community, everyone had been affected by the tornado in one way or another.

“Getting back to school brought back somewhat of a sense of normalcy, but it still wasn’t what we’re used to,” 11th grade student Sarah Hilliard said. “In the back of our minds all we could think about was why we were having to meet at Northwest and about the classmates we knew that had lost everything.”

PCHS Assistant Principal Darit Riddle said the students met for a half day of school on Monday to come together and lend each other support.

“That first day, we just wanted the kids to be able to see each other and to talk,” Riddle said. “They really needed that time.”

Half days were scheduled for the rest of the week, but Riddle said the kids received a welcome act of kindness on Tuesday from students at a school two counties away.

“On Tuesday, we all loaded up and went to Florence High School because their show choir put on a special performance just for our students,” Riddle said. “It gave our students a chance to get away and feel supported by people their own age.”

Florence High School Assistant Principal Lynne Hice said she had been approached by the school’s choral director, Rebecca Rockhill, about performing their spring show for PCHS.

“[PCHS Principal] Cindy Davis’ daughter is in the 10th grade here at Florence and is in the show choir, and Mrs. Davis asked Ms. Rockhill if the chorus could do their show for her students,” Hice said. “Ms. Rockhill thought it was a great idea so she e-mailed me, our superintendent, and our principal, and we all thought it would be good to do this for those students.”

Hice said Rockhill contacted the company FHS rented their backdrops and sound system from to let them know they would have to return it a day late. They were fully prepared to pay the cost, but the company, after hearing the reason, told them to keep the items at no extra charge.

After coordinating schedules, students from PCHS all gathered on Tuesday at FHS to watch as students from 20 miles down the road opened their show with the song “We are the World.”

With lyrics like, “When you’re down and out, there seems no hope at all / But if you just believe, there’s no way we can fall /

Let us realize that a change can only come / When we stand together as one,” Hice said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

“The whole [PCHS] student body sang along and it was the most touching thing I’ve ever seen,” Hice said. “I’ve been in education a long time and this was the best day I’ve ever had. It was a precious moment.”

PCHS 11th grader Korina Jimenez said what the students at Florence did for them was a “blessing.”

“We really needed that,” Jimenez said. “It was just unbelievable that they were going out of their way to support us and we really felt a sense of comfort.”

“When they sang ‘We are the World,’ some of them were crying and we were all crying,” PCHS junior Lindsey Jackson said.

“We gave them a standing ovation,” eighth-grader Vickie McAlister added. “It was just heartwarming.”

Hice said the gratitude felt by the PCHS students was apparent when several of them returned to Florence on their own just to say thank you.

“Several of them showed up Tuesday afternoon and asked to thank our students, so we allowed them to speak over the PA system and tell the students how they felt,” Hice said.

“But at the end of the say, this is not about us doing something for them; it’s about those kids from Phil Campbell,” Hice said. “Our students’ entire goal was to provide a way for them to escape for just a little while, and we just wanted to make them smile.”

Russellville High School has also felt the need to help their neighboring schools who are just minutes down the road from them.

RHS business teacher AnnaKay Holland said student leaders at RHS expressed a desire to do something for the students whose schools had been destroyed, and after brainstorming several ideas, they decided to create T-shirts with the proceeds going to help Phil Campbell and Hackleburg schools.

“When we talked about the design, somebody said we should do something related to our school colors since we’re all black and gold and then somebody pointed out all our mascots were cats, so that’s where we got the idea for what the shirts say,” Holland said.

The front of the T-shirt says, “Black and gold cats stick together,” and the backs says, “Russellville supports PCHS and HHS – April 27, 2011.”

Holland said at first the T-shirts were just going to be sold school wide, but demand for them grew until they expanded it to system-wide and eventually community-wide.

“The idea just blossomed because so many people were wanting a shirt to show their support for these schools,” Holland said.

RHS did an initial order of 1,200 shirts that came in earlier this week. Holland said they sent 100 of those shirts to Hackleburg’s principal, Johnny Hardin, to distribute to his students and they sent 150 shirts to Phil Campbell to be distributed between the high school and the elementary school.

“The clubs and organizations at RHS have agreed to pick up the cost of those shirts because we wanted those students, especially the ones who lost their homes, to have a free shirt to know we care about them,” Holland said. “With the sale of the rest of the shirts, we’ve been able to raise almost $4,000.”

Holland said RHS will begin taking orders for the second batch of T-shirts on Monday and will take orders through Friday. Patricia Cox will be handling this order, and those outside the school system who wish to order a shirt should have their information and money ready when they come to place an order. Shirts are $12 and come in youth small, medium and large sizes and adult sizes from small through 3X.

“This tragedy hit home for many of our students and faculty,” Holland said. “One of our own students was injured in the storms and lost her house and we took up money and clothes for her this week as well.

“I think the kids were just looking for any way they could be a help to anyone who was affected and, regardless of which school it was, the kids just wanted these other students to know how much they care about them.”