She was a freshman and a special-education student, struggling to get the services and classes she needed. Sowder was near the bottom of the intricate social hierarchy at Columbine last fall. And how some people could get away with anything.'
We'd talk mostly about how we got picked on, how the school was not caring what the students did. He'd do pretty much anything for people he liked. 'He was like the sweetest guy I ever knew. 'I used to talk to Eric once in a while,' Sowder says. And there were nice students, too-guys she met in the commons area, drinking coffee or hot chocolate and talking about what was wrong with Columbine. They didn't stop half the fights in that school.'īut Columbine wasn't all bad, Sowder insists. 'I think they were afraid of the students. 'Teachers would see them push someone into a locker, and they'd just ignore it,' she says. They shoved her friends in the halls and threw snowballs or bottles at them on the way home. There were a lot of things Melissa Sowder didn't like about Columbine High School.
