"Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!" first- and second-grade students shouted out what to do if they find a gun during a gun-safety presentation April 3 at M.I. Day Elementary.
Minerva police officer Rebecca Grubb talked with the North Multi-Age Class students about how getting shot in real life is not like it appears in cartoons and television shows, that all types of guns, including paintball, airsoft and bb guns, can be dangerous, and how real and play guns can look the same. She asked the children who might have guns at their house, and talked about what to do if a friend wants to show them a gun.
The students also discussed what to do if they hear another student talk about bringing a gun to school or having a gun at school.
"You guys all have to be part of keeping everyone safe," Grubb said. "It's your job to be the hero and tell an adult."
As part of the presentation the North MAC teachers, Diane Ruff and Beth Rininger, performed a skit illustrating what to do if someone finds a gun, and (above) the students held up cue cards and shouted the correct response as loudly as they could.
Grubb also gave the children activity sheets, including a coloring page, and a gun-safety pact to read with their parents, and to be signed by both. In the pact, the students promise not to touch any gun they might find and to tell an adult about it, and their parents promise to keep all guns locked up.
Minerva Police Chief Robert First (back, from left) and Grubb presented first- and second-place winners of the coloring contest (front) Abbie Greer, first; and Madison Sadler, second, with $10 Pizza Hut gift certificates donated by Minerva Police Auxiliary officers, and third-place winner Joey Osterfeld, with a $5 Minerva Skating Rink gift certificate donated by Jimmy Guest.