Loud sounds, such as a slammed locker door or a popped balloon, still bring back memories of the fatal shooting that took place more than a year ago at Ingraham High School in Seattle.
But according to public radio station KNKX in Tacoma, Wash., the worst noise is probably that of the starter pistol fired at track meets. It "sounds like somebody's firing a gun on campus," Ingraham athletic director Mike Wentzel, sitting in his office just 30 feet from where 17-year-old Ebenezer Haile was shot and killed by another student, told KNKX.
"That crisp, loud, instantaneous shot sound from a gun triggers the timing system. So that's how it starts timing our athletes," Wentzel said.
Replacing the guns isn’t so simple. A trumpet or airhorn won’t work. It needs to be precise – a 100th of a second of difference can determine who qualifies for the next round in state or district competitions, Wentzel said.
The school could buy an electric buzzer system, but the district doesn’t have the money. At least, not yet.
As reported by KNKX's Scott Greenstone, Ingraham track athletes, staff and students want to stop using guns — so now, students and parents are fundraising to buy systems not just for their school, but also the three other fields where Seattle Public Schools athletes compete.
They’ve already raised more than $6,000 of the $27,000 needed. There has been some pushback, Greenstone reported.
"Some people have tried to minimize that experience and say that, you know, 'you're not war veterans,' " said Saeran Dewar, a senior and co-president of Ingraham for Gun Safety, a student advocacy group formed after the Uvalde shooting in Texas in 2022. "When you've experienced a school shooting, you'll go about that differently. And you'll have a different attitude towards it."
Wentzel hopes to have the new systems up and running by the start of spring track meet season.
