We go to school day in and day out without a single incident. Now, we turn on the news and what do we see? A shooting here, a shooting there.
The reasons they happen don’t matter, and we won’t discuss them here, but what does matter is innocent lives being at risk. It’s time to discuss our safety while at school.
We’d be stupid to think something like what happened in El Paso, or Dayton wouldn’t happen here. I don’t say this to incite panic but rather to open your eyes.

Let’s be aware of our surroundings. Let’s talk about how we can keep ourselves safe here.
According to CBS News, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year. An interesting discussion comes when we actually discuss school shootings and not just mass shootings.
According to an article by NPR, despite the growing fears of school shootings they’ve been on a decline compared to past decades.

Now, that’s all fine and dandy but a statistic like that won’t have me sleeping better at night.
It’s better to be prepared than unprepared. Shootings are still happening.
When it comes to school shootings, the university puts faculty and staff through active shooter training and other forms of training to help in situations of danger on campus.
In fact, our University Police Department is ready for all types of situations. We have a real, fully functioning police department on our campus.

What’s missing for all of us to really be safe is for students to have the discussion and plan accordingly for dangerous situations. Think about it. UPD and most of the faculty are prepped, why can’t you be?
ULM has given us a simple solution so we can be prepared. Check out the new “ULM Safe” app. It’s a must have. You can send in anonymous tips through the app or call UPD.
It’s sad to say we even have to be having this discussion, but we’re lucky to come to a campus that is actually considering scenarios like these and enforcing countermeasures.
UPD used to host events, and they still do, to help students face or avoid difficult situations on campus. They do this for our benefit. Events like these should be attended.
If a situation where to arise it doesn’t matter how prepared you are if you’re among a group of unprepared people. Go to these events and learn, it’s as simple as that.

“If you see something, say something,” is the biggest advice anybody can tell you to avoid dangerous situations. UPD preaches this.
It basically means that once you see something suspicious going on you report it to the proper authorities.
With the beauty of our new ULM Safe app all we have to do is send a quick text through the app.
If you’re not sure whether to be worried or not, discuss the situation with some of your fellow peers. Chances are they can either calm you down or reassure you of your initial suspicions.
Either way we must all start or continue to be alert, informed and prepared about how to stay safe on our campus.