The sirens from nearby police cars, ambulances and fire trucks startled the students and faculty on May 9, 2016. A sophomore had dove head-first into the shallow pond on private property near Free State. He injured his head, neck and spine leading to paralysis from his chest down according to senior Kardal Hart who visited the student in the hospital. A helicopter life-flighted the student to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where he received surgery to stabilize his back according to the student’s mother.

Theatre Lawrence owns the property where the pond is located. Principal Myron Graber voiced his concern about the safety of those who gather near the pond during open lunch periods. Graber said it is up to Theatre Lawrence to ask for the school to monitor student behavior on their property.

“We’ve talked with law enforcement and SROs about whose responsibility is it to monitor [the area near the pond], but until the property owner says ‘I no longer want this to happen,’ it really falls into the gray area whose responsibility is it,” Graber said. “We’ve had huge concerns. We have large groups of students who go over there and hang out and use that as their lunch break area, but it’s actually beyond our scope of supervision.”

Numerous students were nearby when the student dove into the pond to witness the incident.

The student took off his shirt and jumped head first into the pond according to Hart.“He came up and there was blood everywhere,” Hart said. “The kid yelled ‘I can’t feel my legs,’ so I hopped in, I got to him back to the shore and two or three other people helped me get him up to a muddy spot where we waited for the paramedics to come.”

Had Hart not assisted the student to safety, his injuries may have been worse.

“He said he lost the feeling in his legs, so he was only swimming with his arms,” Hart said.

The understanding of the student’s motive is unclear, but there is no confusion that the actions of the students around him were heroic according to Graber.

“We had some students that responded in a tremendous way,” Graber said. “We have some real heros in this school. I’m very proud of our students that were there that reacted in a positive way to a very difficult situation.”

The injured student had transferred from Lawrence High School on Friday, May 6. Although he had only been attending Free State for less than two days, students were deeply affected by this event.

After the incident, Graber’s goal is to keep students safe and supported. Emotion levels are high for the friends and family of the injured student, but as the year comes to an end, Graber wants to ensure happiness and success for those who were affected.

“It’s just a very unfortunate incident that occurred,” Graber said. “Ultimately, when students come back to campus, we try to meet their needs, whether it be social or emotional. We become more of a supportive role so they can come back to school and be successful.”