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Kentucky Department of Education review

See the review in it's original form in Kentucky Teacher magazine on Page 9 at http://www.kde.state.ky.us/NR/rdonlyres/0A28EE35-C039-4BE0-BD42-3208784FD9E1/0/Feb09KyTw.pdf

Reviewed by Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Missy Jenkins Smith is a Day
Treatment Center counselor for
Calloway County schools. She has
been married for several years to
her college sweetheart and has a
young son. By all accounts, she
has a great life, despite the fact she
spends most of her days in a wheelchair.

After becoming one of the victims
in the Heath High School
(McCracken County) shooting
more than 11 years ago, Smith also
has become the face of the shooting.
As the most severely- injured
surviving student, she has taken
on this role with her head held
high and voice actively talking to
others about her experiences.

She became a celebrity nationwide,
appearing on numerous
talk shows and specials including
“The Oprah Winfrey Show” and
“Dateline.” Whenever there has
been another high school shooting,
she is regularly called by reporters
wanting her reaction. She has
participated in public-service
announcements and several other
noteworthy avenues to share her
story. While so many hide from
the microphone or the camera after
going through a tragedy, Smith
uses public appearances to help her
heal, to force herself to deal with
her emotions. Mainly, however,
she tries to get the message across
to others that violence is never the
answer.

Missy Jenkins Smith writes
about her experiences leading up
to and following that ominous day,
Dec. 1, 1997, in her book, “I Choose
to be Happy: A School Shooting
Survivor’s Triumph Over Tragedy.”
This book serves as a strong
reminder about how one act can
touch the lives of so many and how
it can force a nation to evaluate how
schools have protected those who
walk their halls.

Smith’s actions following the
shooting have served as a glimpse
of hope and a wealth of knowledge
about how schools can best protect
teachers and students.

This book could easily be added
to preferred reading lists for all
high school students. It’s a learning
tool like most books in school.
What makes this book ideal for
high school students is that Smith
writes in the voice of a student. She
puts the reader in that hallway that
morning, with raw, vivid details
about who was standing where
and what happened to those who
couldn’t escape the bullets.

With her unique voice of experience,
students can learn from her
story and understand that actions
have consequences.

Middle school students could
benefit from this book, too. Her
message is simple in that it’s easy
to see the ramifications of bullying,
even in the mildest of forms, even
when the student getting picked
on seems to take it in stride. Her
message is also strong, however,
in terms of overcoming obstacles
and getting help for students if
they feel like their only outlet is
violence.

The best example of this in her
book is a powerful 17-page transcript
of an interview conducted
just two hours after the shooting
with shooter Michael Carneal, his
attorney and a McCracken County
police detective. Her book also has
the capability of showing a student
the future should someone
decide to resort to violence. The
book goes into great detail during
Carneal’s sentencing with excerpts
from victims, their family members,
family members of those
fatally wounded and the judge as
he rendered the sentence: 20 years
in prison for burglary, 20 years
in prison each on five counts of
attempted murder and three concurrent
life sentences without the
possibility of parole for 25 years
for the murdered victims.

Missy Jenkins Smith doesn’t hold
back in her personal tale. After
guiding you through the shooting,
she discusses her lengthy stay in
the hospital followed by her rehabilitation
stint in Lexington’s Cardinal
Hill Hospital. That’s when she
faced the daunting task of learning
to go about her life in a wheelchair.

She discusses the good times and
bad when she returned to Paducah,
her first day back at Heath High
School, dating and staying active
in school, not to mention how she
viewed things that once seemed so
insignificant.

Smith doesn’t cut Carneal any
slack, either. She forgives him,
but holds him accountable for his
actions that fateful day. That’s a
fine line most people can never
properly navigate.

“Forgiveness does not
exonerate a person from
responsibility or punishment
for what he or she
did,” she writes. “It’s an
acknowledgement that
he or she did something
wrong, that we realize we
all make errors in judgment. …

“Michael’s errors were ruthless,”
she continues. “Nobody on
earth expected me to forgive him
for what he did – not even Michael.
I had every right to be angry with
him for the rest of my life. He
robbed me of my ability to walk,
murdered my friends, nearly killed
my sister, and scarred so many
people emotionally. He planned
the crime and chose to commit the
crime. He needed to face the consequences.
Punishment was justified.
But it didn’t mean I couldn't forgive him."