By Jolie Shultz
Editor In Chief
IG: jolie.rebecca

On Sept. 18, Hutchinson Community College held an active shooter training drill in Smith Science Center.

The drill was announced to students on Sept. 10 via an email from Dana Hinshaw, HutchCC’s Executive Director of Student Affairs and Campus Safety.

“I think it went well. It’s always good to learn from those drills. It’s not just about ‘we want it to go great’. That’s when we can look around our offices or our classrooms and say, ‘oh, maybe we need to look at this’,” Hinshaw said.

The science building in particular offered plenty of conversation about what needs to be corrected in the case of a legitimate armed intruder on campus.

“There are windows and glass doors,” Hinshaw said. “There are little side light windows. So, windows are important, but in a situation like an active shooter drill, or if there’s an active shooter on our campus, you want to be able to cover those. So we’ve got a little work to do about some kind of fast cover for windows, those kinds of things.”

Sheldon Stewart, the Department 2 Co-Chair and member of the campus crisis team, and is a former law enforcement officer, walked with the Hutchinson Police Department during the drill.

The purpose of walking with the Hutch PD was to be able to divulge the details of the process to the rest of the crisis team after the drill.

“Unfortunately, in these types of situations in real life, we don’t know it’s coming. So, we have to react instead of being proactive. The only way we can be proactive is to just practice the best we can,” Stewart said.

HutchCC intends to have more precautionary drills, not only for an armed intruder but for different emergencies such as fires and tornados.

“The more we practice, the more intuitive we become as to what needs to be done in a crisis or emergency situation. I like to say chance favors the prepared mind. So, if we’re prepared, then we stand a better chance of getting through the situation,” Stewart said.

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