SEATTLE — Thinking about safe learning is hard for an entire generation that has grown up with active school shooter drills.
"It's kind of just been 'Oh okay, when's the next shooting, who is dying next, where is it happening?' and hoping it's not at your school. It's not a healthy mindset at all when you're just trying to learn," said Ballard High School student, Noir Goldberg.
Next Wednesday is the start of Noir Goldberg and Natalya McConnell's senior year of high school.
"It's kind of intimidating going back to school after it's felt so unsafe over the last couple of years. And it's really unfortunate that it took kids dying on school campuses to make change happen," said Goldberg.
In November, 17-year-old Ebenezer Haile was shot and killed at Ingraham High School. Shortly after, McConnell organized a massive walk-out through the Seattle Student Union demanding mental health resources in schools and stricter gun laws.
"We were able to win $4 million for mental health counselors," said McConnell.
The School Board passed the SPS Safety Initiative which includes a safety review of campuses, creating community action teams and a mental health council.
In addition, the school district is implementing these safety improvements for the fall semester. That includes campus signage, locks that activate from inside a classroom and an app for high schoolers to report threats.
"These small steps of signage, of door locks, are okay, but they are not going to prevent a school shooting as much as school mental health counselors are and gun control is," said McConnell.
That's why the student union said they're advocating for $20 million to go toward mental Health Counselors in the next city council budget.
"We're kids and we're fighting every step of the way to just get an education without risking our lives," said Goldberg.
KING 5 reached out to the school district for an interview with the superintendent about this story. They declined, saying that they might consider this interview after school starts.