Following a recent incident at AMS, a focus has been created on the need for school-wide awareness of allergies and their severe consequences on those who have them. As well, there is a need for those without allergies to alter their behaviors and habits to safeguard those who do.

Sarah Ward, the journalism teacher at AHS, has two children, one of whom had a severe peanut allergy. Ward’s daughter’s allergy posed a constant source of anxiety for her.

“It was something that was always on [my] mind because it’s so out of your control,” Ward said. “You can’t isolate someone from an allergy, because they are going to be out in the world.”

Ashli Slesinger, a sophomore who has a severe peanut allergy, has experienced the same anxiety. Her allergy is so severe that she goes into anaphylactic shock – a condition that causes fluid buildup in the lungs, resulting in the inability to breathe and, if untreated, leads to death – if she consumes peanuts.

“I had this brownie and I had to get airlifted to Denver because the brownie had peanut butter in it. I thought I was going to die,” said Slesinger.

For people with allergies, reading labels, avoiding homemade foods, and carrying around EpiPens and Benadryl is not enough. They must rely on the awareness of those around them as well. AMS student, Nadia Thornely, feels that the school has not done enough to educate students facing danger from allergies.

“Some kids don’t know how serious [allergies] can be,” Thornley said.

On the subject of general information on allergies, Elise Dreher, one of the school’s nurses said, “I don’t know that the school does much teaching on that\; we leave it to the parents and the doctors.”

The school, however, makes some effort to spread allergy awareness, especially for younger children.

“We do the teaching when we can and when it’s age-appropriate,” Dreher said.

Currently, when it comes to the severity of allergies, many students seem to be uninformed. Another nurse, Tonie Richards pointed to the necessity of all of the district becoming informed.

“[Allergies have] the potential to be life-threatening,” Richards said.