On Oct. 9, at Memorial Middle School in Joplin, a 13-year-old boy brought a gun to the school and opened fire before school hours.

A couple of blocks away, at the South Middle School a Missouri Southern student teacher, Amanda Ince, received word of the incident.

“When it happened we had just come out of an assembly, and I started my lesson and then an announcement came that all teachers needed to check their emails immediately,” she said. “All we knew for the whole day was that a student came in, shots were fired, and that was it.”

By the 7th hour, Ince knew the school district had put together a notice form for parents. The next day, parents came to the school to get their children and South’s attendance was down.

“I think for the rest of the week it’s going to be down, just because parents freak, I would too if they were my children,” Ince said. “But in the same respect those teachers got it under control, took care of it, they’ve had their training, they got the student out of the building, before anything happened. They calmly resolved the situation.”

The day after the event, Katie Lee, another student teacher for College Heights Christian School, was informed of the shooting.

“I was so glad to hear that nobody got hurt, that was my biggest worry,” Lee said. “Things are going to be totally different now for schools.”

Ince and Lee both said they thought about future drills for the students in case another situation like this happens.

However, Ince said all she could do was her best.

“I don’t really fear death because that’s a part of life,” Ince said. “All though one thing that really bothers me is the safety of my students.”

There is talk about new legislation to arm the teachers in the classroom. Missouri Lawmakers have not ruled out the idea. Already there is controversy on the issue.

“I think we have a lot of mixed feelings on it, it’s going to be a rough thing,” Ince said. “As a teacher, I don’t even want to have a gun in there, but my cooperating teacher, Brent Thompson, was in the national guard and he said he would approve of it because he’s been trained.”

If an event like the Columbine shooting occurs, where people are massacred, Ince said one opinion is there comes a point where you have to choose between that student or 30 other students.

“I am not going to be able to point a gun at someone and shoot them, especially if it’s a student,” Ince said. “Because you have a bond with the student, but first and foremost, I think the student’s safety is my responsibility.”