By Hailey Pecic
Viking Longboat
Haslett HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
News Story
Among a sea of sweaty dancing concert goers, senior Camille Norris took a break from enjoying the music to peek at her phone and read a text from her mother. “Do not worry about me. I’m not in Paris” it read in French.
Norris did not know she had a reason to worry until the band, All Time Low, stopped its music and made the announcement. Paris, where her mother had been visiting before heading to a conference in Germany, had been attacked.
“The atmosphere was very surreal,” Norris said. “For me, it felt like I wasn’t here but rather in Paris. That’s where my mind had been the whole time.”
Norris has dual citizenship with France and is extremely close with her family there. She attended school in Paris for a year and keeps in close contact with her friends. To her, the attack didn’t just hit close to home, it was at home.
The rest of Norris’ night was filled with panic. “I was freaking out overnight and texting all my friends and making sure they’re OK,” she said. “It was really scary because we didn’t know if there were going to be anymore (attacks) throughout the night.”
Despite being in the U.S., Norris received first hand accounts of details as events unfolded. Her friends and family informed her they had all locked themselves inside their apartments, watching the streets below through their windows.
“All they could see outside was the military and ambulances. Just complete chaos everywhere,” she said.
As a result of the chaos, French teacher Alison Dykman was unsure about how to propose to the school board the plan for her class trip to France in 2017.
“My original plan was to go to the school board this spring and talk about the trip. That may be put off until we see what the situation is,” Dykman said.
The Monday following the attacks, Dykman pushed her lesson plans back a day and each of her classes spent their periods discussing the situation.
“The general feeling was some students were scared because they listen to the news or see social media and feel that if they hit France, we’re next,” Dykman said.“There was also a lot of concern for France. Some of the kids have been there. And some of them who had been with our tour guide wanted to make sure he was okay. There was just a lot of deep thought and taking it all in.”
The attacks on Nov. 13 in Paris were carried out by the terrorist group ISIS. ISIS claims to be an Islamic group, living and acting for God. Senior Marium Imran said that’s simply “not true.”
Imran is concerned her religion of Islam is being used incorrectly. “Islam is a peaceful religion, not for violence,” Imran said. “They (ISIS) are hypocrites and not really following the religion. They’re just making stuff up as it applies to them.”
Around the world, many Muslims are publicly condemning the acts of terror carried out by ISIS. Despite this, there is still concern that Muslims could be targeted as a result of the attacks.
Imran said people should understand, Muslims are not to blame. “They (ISIS) are not supposed to be doing this. It is not a part of Islam,” Imran said.
For Norris, fear of future attacks by ISIS has affected her plans for after graduation. She had intentions of applying to colleges in Paris, but is now reconsidering. “It kinda depends on how the situation goes, if it worsens or not. And if my parents think I will be safe over there if I get accepted,” Norris said.
But she doesn’t plan on ending her summer visits. “Nothing is going to stopW me from going home”.