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The mood Sunday was calm but determined as hundreds of students, teachers, family and friends gathered at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in search of healing.
Two weeks after a student and a teacher were shot to death, they sat on aluminum bleachers and folding chairs spread out on the grass under the autumn sun on the school’s athletic field.
The student-organized gathering, titled “A Family Undivided,” was part rally, part demonstration, part community healing session. The two-hour event from an elevated stage featured songs, dances and other tributes to student Alexandra Bell and teacher Jean Kushka.
Bell, 15, and Kushka, 61, were shot and killed on Oct. 24 after the school’s Class of 2021 broke into the building and opened fire on students and staff, wounding six others.
Bell’s family buried her Saturday at Friedens Cemetery after a funeral service at Faith Church in Earth City.
Several students at the performing arts high school said their contributions to the show helped them recover from the shooting.
“We are not grieving. We don’t cry. We are happy. We smile. We smile for Alex. Today we smile for our school. We’re not crying anymore,” senior Veronica Russell said in her welcoming message from the stage.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Most of those who gathered Sunday wore black and gold T-shirts in the school colors. Representatives of community groups working with young people displayed program information on tables at one end of the field, where a machine launched bubbles into the air.
During a break in the program, students, teachers, parents and school security guards broke into synchronized dance moves as VIC’s 2008 hit “Wobble” blared from the stage speakers to the crowd.
“A lot of people have come here to support us. We are here to say that we are still alive. We are a school of celebration. We are a school of life. We are a school of vibrance,” said Rayquan Strickland, a senior at the school and the main organizer of the event, as people poured onto the field before the performance.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Remembering the departed
Kuska was a mother of five who had taught in St. Louis Public Schools since 2002 after teaching for 18 years at Seven Holy Founders Catholic School. A member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, she won the 1979 national championship with the Missouri State University field hockey team.
Bell was an accomplished dancer who performed with school groups and with the St. Louis Dazzling Diamonds at the Diamond Dance Academy in Ferguson. She was looking forward to progressing from intermediate to advanced dance classes at school.
“She was very kind. I think literally everyone should have met her because she is such an amazing person,” sophomore Bachel Miller said.
Keisha Akers, Bell’s mother, urged parents in the crowd to watch for signs that their children might be having emotional difficulties.
“I want you to listen to your whole body, your whole body, because I guarantee your kids will tell you what’s right for them,” she said. Police say the school shooter left a note saying he had no friends or close friends.
“Sometimes they’re asking for help, but they can’t say the physical words,” Acker said. “I don’t want everyone, any of the adults here, to go through the pain that I go through every day.”
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Strickland said Bell is a good role model for his friends and classmates.
“She was a beautiful soul inside and out. She was truly pure of heart. Alex was a really energetic and lively person. She was truly a peace activist. “If we all had Alex’s heart, I promise you, the world would be a better place,” Strickland said.
Marius McFadden, a senior at the school, participated in two dance tributes to the bell. After the performance, he said, the students welcome the opportunity to pay tribute to their art after filming.
“It felt good to finally start dancing again,” he said. “I missed it.”
The program ended at sunset as members of the school community launched two dozen flaming paper lanterns into the air as the school vocal group Voices of Soul sang the devotional “Trust Me,” while Kushka and Bell’s families stood on stage.
As the lights drifted into the distance, the sun set behind the bleachers and the moon rose over the school, behind the stage.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
A call to action
Before the rally, students marched down Kingsway near the school in support of stricter gun laws and in memory of a fallen classmate and teacher.
Russell said he would like to see gun laws changed to require more training for gun buyers and prevent teenagers from buying assault rifles. If more legal restrictions were in place, Bell would still be alive, she said.
“She had a lot going for her, she was looking to the future,” Russell said of her friend shortly after the march. “But unfortunately it was taken out of her hands by very lenient Missouri laws. We need to start curbs now before it ever happens again, before another future is eliminated. “
Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @jeremydgoodwin
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