Winder, Georgia (CNN) — Isaiah Hooks was having a great start to his sophomore year at Apalachee High School: He was in the band, about to participate in a new leadership program and most importantly, focusing on just being happy.
“I was mostly just trying to make the most of every day, even when I felt down. I was trying to just be happy about every day,” the 15-year-old student told CNN on Saturday.
Then, on September 4 – just weeks into the academic year – Apalachee became the site of a mass shooting that left two students and two teachers dead – the deadliest US school shooting since March 2023 and the 49th this year. The Winder shooting has fractured the lives of students like Isaiah, their parents and the Georgia community.
Tuesday, the school began a gradual reopening.
What the reopening looks like
The outside view of students walking quietly through the parking lot toward their classes looked strangely ordinary Tuesday morning, the illusion of normality punctured only by a row of law enforcement cruisers parked near the school’s front door.