Mrs. Elaine Metz, Math Resource Director and Highland Park resident

Before Winter Break, Math Resource Director Mrs. Elaine Metz asked students to share their favorite holidays. Christmas and Halloween were popular, as they always are. A student then said hers was the Fourth of July. 

Metz’s stomach immediately dropped as she remembered the horrors of the Highland Park tragedy. 

For almost 20 consecutive years, Metz’s family has attended the annual parade. She calls it one of the most festive experiences: the music, the families with kids riding on tricycles decorated with red, white, and blue ribbons — traditions loved by most across the North Shore. 

2022 marked the first parade that Metz and her family had attended in two years since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Metz remembers the bright smile and pure excitement beaming on her face. She also remembers how all that joy faded into heartbreak when the police officer told her family they had to evacuate. 

Just a few days ago, Metz watched an episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which featured a high school football player who survived the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. He talked about how hard it is for him to go to school, even 10 years later. Metz relates to his experiences as she’s reminded of the tragic event just simply driving through Highland Park.

“He has no choice but to face the very place where he witnessed such trauma all those years ago,” she said.

Metz doesn’t think about the parade often, as she doesn’t want to, but when she heard that Highland Park was planning another parade this year, she knew immediately that she wouldn’t be in attendance. 

“It is so sad that this sick person took away something so joyous for my daughter, for me and for all the people at the parade that day,” she said.

Metz knew people who were shot, her neighbor and her eye doctor, among the dozens of people injured that day. Talking about her experience makes her realize how much, even six months later, how much the ever-lasting horrors at the parade still impact her life to this day.