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Kyle SturrockCopy Manager

High school is a time for learn-ing. For four years, students work through classes, homework, and tests. However, high school isn’t just for studying academic sub-jects such as math and chemistry. Of similar importance is learning about the real world.

Let’s face it: the world is not a perfectly safe, happy place. In life beyond high school and college, surveillance cameras are not moni-toring every corner and policemen and women are not patrolling every street. So why should high school be so overprotective?

Now, I’m obviously not sup-porting the idea that safety is not important in high school. A school should be a place where everyone feels comfortable and safe. But, I believe that there is a difference between being safe and being a bit over the top.

At Westhill, we have cameras, police officers, and security guards. They do a fantastic job watching

over a fairly large area consider-ing how few people they are. While many students have the mindset that fights grace the halls of Westhill ev-ery day, we all know that this isn’t really true and that fights are gener-ally a lot rarer than they could be. “This year’s been pretty good so far. I can count on one hand how many fights there have been,” Head of Security Mr. Wright said. This year, I personally have seen fewer fights than in any of my past years at Westhill. I think it’s somewhat unfair to give Westhill such a repu-tation; for 2,339 students, the num-ber of serious fights is really fairly low.

There are many resources that are offered in the school that are in place to help prevent acts of violence before they happen. Both Dean of Students Ms. Obas and physical education teacher Ms. Birch are trained in conflict mediation and of-fer their skills to help speak to angry students before a fight erupts. In-stead of beginning a fight, students are encouraged to meet with either Ms. Obas or Ms. Birch. They speak

behind closed doors, and Ms. Obas and Ms. Birch talk to the students to help them calm down and lower the chance of a fight beginning. “At each meeting with the community, I mention [conflict mediation],” Ms. Obas said, and this has resulted in a higher awareness of the oppor-tunity among students and parents alike. “The kids trust us, we don’t reveal names...students do come to us,” Ms. Obas said.

Another program that is of-fered at Westhill is Girl’s Circle. This program helps girls in the school grow communication skills so they can talk through their prob-lems instead of resorting to fists. This is an effective program that helps deal with emotions and has helped lower the number of fights in school.

These programs are proactive measures that are extremely effec-tive in stopping fights before they even begin and help make Westhill a much safer place to be.

At the same time, there is no denying the fact that there are fights. Everyone has seen them,

and at times they have gotten out of hand. But just because there are some fights doesn’t mean that the school is not safe enough.

“I feel safe at Westhill because there are a ton of security guards and they always respond quickly when there is a fight,” senior Jaymi Jaworoski said.

In any institution where there are 2,300 or more teenagers in the same area, there are going to be problems, and sometimes these problems are going to escalate into fights. This would happen at Westhill, Stamford High, or any other high school in the world. If students, teachers, or administrators believe they can have a school with-out a single act of violence, they’re out of their minds. There’s no real-istic number of cameras or security guards that the school could have that could stop some violence from coming to fruition.

I’ve never felt unsafe through-out my four years at Westhill. There have been uncomfortable situations, and I’ve been caught in the crossfire of a fight or two. But none of this

has ever caused me to question my personal safety while in this school. The hallways are generally a very safe place to be, and there’s never really much cause for concern. “When walking around the hall-ways in Westhill, I don’t have any fear. I feel like it is a safe environ-ment for everyone,” sophomore Chris Kober said.

There is still violence at Westhill, and one still sees fights every once in a while. But the vio-lence at Westhill is tame compared to what could happen. From wit-nessing some fights during my high school years, I feel that I am more prepared and street-smart heading into life after high school. Over-the-top security would almost definite-ly give the students a false sense of security, that just doesn’t exist, and shouldn’t exist, in the real world. A great number of safety precautions are offered in the school, and any-thing that slips through the cracks is something that students must work through, learn from, and use to be-come a stronger and more prepared person.NO

11VIEWPOINT February 2011www.thewestwordonline.com

Metal detectors

Extra security cameras

Hire more security guards

Westhill is safe as is

Poll by Christiana Provenzano, Brianna Skorvanek, and Marissa Skorvanek / Pollsters. Out of 300 students polled.

What should be done to prevent violence at Westhill?

Elissa Miolene / Photo ManagerALL EYES ON YOU Nearly every hallway, lobby, and stairwell in all of Westhill’s buildings are fully equipped with surveillance cameras watching over students.