The student body recently attended an assembly on the dangers of Fentanyl, with the freshmen and seniors on Wednesday and the sophomores and juniors.
A group of three guest speakers was invited, consisting of Dr. Jordan Witkop, Kim Gillihan, and Montgomery County Felony Division Chief Donna Hansen. They presented a slideshow on statistics on the drug, including, but not limited to, how common it is for a street pill to be laced with Fentanyl or how much it takes to kill. Gillihan and Witkop then talked about their sons and the loss of the boys’ lives to the killer drug.
Afterwords, during their science period, students did a walkthrough of a memorial to victims of Fentanyl poisoning. Each victim had their own sign, which included their name, age when they passed, relations to others on the walk. and sunset date. Next to every poster was a letter about the deceased from someone close to them, whether it be a parent, sibling, friend, spouse, or maybe even a child. The youngest victim on the walkthrough, Joshua Gillihan (Kim Gillihan’s son), was only 14 when he passed.
“When I came out, I was like ‘That was actually horrible to see. Like what if that was me? What if I was on one of those signs?’ It felt like I couldn’t breathe,” said one sophomore leaving the walkthrough. Two other students shared a similar revelation.
“I just hope that my baby’s death wasn’t in vain and her story could help a young addict that could maybe turn into a young victim,” said Amy Croston, one of the volunteers at the walkthrough, who lost her daughter to a pill that was 100% Fentanyl.
