Through increased counseling measures, reviewed security protocols, and messages to the community, Poly Prep provided a multilayered response to the Brown University shooting that took place on Saturday, December 13, 2025 as students and faculty grappled with the event’s broader impact. “Even when tragedy does not touch us directly, as members of the human family, we cannot help but feel unsettled and unmoored in the wake of its impact,” said Head of School Noni Thomas López in a school-wide email sent several days after the shooting.
The shooting resulted in two deaths and nine wounded individuals. The Brown Daily Herald, the university’s student-led newspaper, sent an email less than an hour after initial shots were fired, reporting that “an active shooter [was] present on Brown’s campus near Barus and Holley, according to an alert sent out by the Department of Public Safety.”
After the news broke, Head of Upper School Sarah Bates, along with other members of Poly’s administration and faculty, including López and Assistant Head of School, Academics Michal Hershkovitz, discussed what Poly’s response to this event should entail. The first step the Poly administration took was reaching out to alumni at Brown: “‘I hope that all of our Poly alumni over there are safe.’ That was primarily what my mind was focused on,” said Bates. “We got contact information for the Poly alumni who are attending Brown and [Dr. Thomas López] reached out to them directly, just checked in, to make sure they were okay.”
The next step was to craft messages for the Poly community and create resources for any student who needed them. That day, December 15, Bates addressed the Upper School during the regular assembly block. “When I speak to you all in that capacity, it’s really driven from here,” said Bates, gesturing towards her heart. Bates also spoke to the importance of informing students during these times without inadvertently increasing anxiety or fear. “We’re not trying to re-traumatize or traumatize anyone for the first time,” explained Bates. She also highlighted the importance of providing students with resources and guidance. “We’re always here for students for support in whatever capacity we can provide.”
One way Poly’s administration attempted to give support was via additional counseling opportunities for students following the shooting. “I think, from a counseling perspective, it’s doing what we can to make sure that people in our community feel safe and supported,” said Upper School Counselor Benjamin Marks. Marks, along with Middle School Counselor Tynesha Wright-Lindo and Upper School Counselor Anais Kingsberry, carved out portions of their schedules to increase availability and provide students and faculty with more opportunities to seek the support they needed. “I think a great thing about our counseling department is everyone’s willingness to block off time and be available for the community, whether that’s students or faculty or staff or parents or whoever, I like to say availability is like the greatest ability,” said Marks.
Marks also acknowledged that people seek support in different ways during potentially stressful times, which is why, in addition to increasing the counseling team’s availability, the counseling team also established spaces where students could be alone with their thoughts and feelings. “At one point, we had a separate processing space that wasn’t in the counseling offices, just in anticipation that we might have more than five students come in at once and we wanted to have this space, [we’re] trying to be as broad and as sensitive as we can be,” he said.
Following the shooting, students at Poly wrestled with their feelings about the event and its potential implications on their own lives. “It’s not that I felt less safe. It just felt weird. It was just so weird to just go to school,” said Charlotte Kessler ’27. Brown’s location in the northeast creates increased proximity to Poly which has the potential to create a heightened consciousness of the event here on campus. “I don’t feel unsafe here, but more aware. It feels closer to home. It’s more like a reminder… [that] we’re lucky enough to forget about that kind of threat, especially being in New York State,” said Masoume Khonsari ’27.
Poly’s security staff reinforced several aspects of its protocol to enhance student safety. “It’s very hard to hear something like that happening again in the world, unfortunately. You feel bad for the families and for the other students around. I thought to myself, how can something like that get prevented over here?” said Director of Security, Safety, & Transportation Xerxes Vizcaino. In response to the shooting, Vizcaino met with other members of the security team to discuss possible risks and reactions, mentioning, “If it’s closer to here, we’ll go into a lockdown – a soft lockdown – just to make sure we’re all safe and secure… If it’s farther away, we’ll just talk about it because we know it’s not a threat to us.”
Vizcaino wants the community to feel assured by the various security measures already in place, “We have a security consultant, they’ll come here and they do an audit, and we walk around the campus, and we figure out what points of strengths, weaknesses, and how we can improve it.” Vizcaino also mentioned other current Poly security protocols, including a network of over 175 security cameras, a visitor management team, and an in-development system that would require card access for every building on campus. “The minute you get excited and nervous, it makes it worse for everybody else around. So, our job is to help keep you guys relaxed and calm while we deal with stress… You are nervous and scared: listen to us. We’re here to help you out,” said Vizcaino.
As Bates previously mentioned, several Poly alumni have attended Brown or are affiliated with the university in some capacity. There are also current Poly students who also have affiliation with Brown, as Upper Schoolers navigate the college admissions process, Brown is a school they visit and, for some, apply to. On December 17, 2025, Nyla Harriott ’26 received her Early Decision acceptance from Brown University, just days after the shooting. “The shooting happened only a couple days before my decision was scheduled to be released. So I immediately was like, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t know if or how this affects me or my decision,’” said Harriott.
“I’m just thinking that [a shooting] could happen anywhere, and it’s just this sad reality that we’re facing today. So I [didn’t] have that center my reaction,” she added.
By making strides to inform, counsel, and protect the community amidst this recent instance of campus-related violence, Poly presented a response that wasn’t just academic. “Your health and safety and well being, mental, physical, emotional comes before everything else. It comes before your grades. It comes before the math test. It comes before how many clubs you’re in… it’s the most important thing for me, and I think I can speak for the rest of the administration in that way,” said Bates.
