Coping with tragedy

Glendale - "It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop."

That was the scene at Nicolet High School on Monday morning as students came together for the first time since Halee Ludowise-Fischer and Jennifer Geren died in a car crash over the weekend, District Administrator Rick Monroe said.

Halee and Jennifer, both sophomores at the school, died about 1 a.m. Saturday after fleeing River Hills police and entering Glendale before crashing into a stop sign and utility pole near West Good Hope Road and North Seneca Avenue. Halee, who held a learner's permit, was driving her mother's car.

Education was not necessarily at the forefront of teachers' and students' minds that first day back. Instead, Nicolet became a place of emotional support as people came to grips with the deaths of two respected students. Halee, of Glendale, served on Nicolet's Student Council and was active in school issues as a member of the principal's advisory team. Jennifer, of Fox Point, was a part of the school's gymnastics team.

Upon learning of the deaths, Monroe said he assembled the high school's crisis response team, comprised of all guidance staff, the school nurse and most of the administrators. Throughout the weekend, the more than dozen members who received training for such an event as Saturday's tragedy, discussed how they were going to conduct school business Monday as students and teachers grieved.

"We knew that the students weren't going to be ready to focus on their classes right away that morning," said Barbara Bornstein, Nicolet's school psychologist, who heads the crisis response team. "There were a lot of tears and hugging that first day back. The kids needed to be together and process what had taken place."

Teachers came together at 6:45 a.m. Monday to discuss how the day's classes would be handled. Each teacher read from a prepared statement that laid out the facts of the event in an effort to dispel any rumors of what occurred.

Members of the crisis response team had five school rooms in use Monday for counseling sessions. Students overcome with grief and attempting to work through their emotions were invited to meet with Nicolet guidance counselors. Nicolet also pooled resources from licensed professionals outside the school - including guidance counselors at each of the three K-8 feeder districts.

"We were literally swamped throughout the day, but we were prepared," Bornstein said. "Literally, throughout the day, we had hundreds of kids come in and see us."

Monroe encouraged parents to have students come to school - even if they were grieving - because Nicolet was going to be a place of sanctuary. He described Monday as "therapeutic." Students visiting counseling professionals were invited to work through their feelings via a number of exercises that included writing out thoughts on note cards that eventually will be delivered to Halee and Jennifer's families. Both students' lockers also were decorated, and those memorials also were given to the families.

By Tuesday, Nicolet slowly began returning to normal, though the empty desks in Halee and Jennifer's classrooms will serve as a stark reminder of how precious and fragile life is - and how two young students positively impacted the school community during their lives.