Seniors: they survived Sandy, they ferociously reclaimed their school from the “Cairn Alligator,” and they have persevered through eight (or more) rounds of finals week. But one other thing that seniors have gained great experience in is the art of the fire drill. With a $500 fine handed to anyone left in the building after the fire alarm has gone off, Cairn students have gotten used to dropping everything the moment the ear-piercing shriek of the fire alarm goes off. For some seniors, however, fire drills will hold more of a fond memory than just the shrill headache-inducing alarm that tells them to go outside.

For several students, there have been incidents of the alarms going off while they were napping or even showering. Some students would go out in pajamas or without shoes when it was a biting 20-30 degrees out with snow on the ground! One female student was in the middle of hanging some delicate laundry to dry when the alarm went off, and it was airing out by a window opened by the firemen when she returned. Another student accidentally slept through the alarm, due to always hearing it casually in high school. With our loving Cairn community, it’s also fairly regular for sing-alongs to start up while waiting for the all-clear from security. There was even a time when a student was wearing headphones and watching Warhorse on her computer, and she thought the alarm was in the movie, not in real life.

Caleb Bishop was able to share his unique fire-drill story with The Scroll for this article: “Last semester we went out to the curb right by Penndel during a fire drill and the neighbor came out and gave us some muffins. It ended up that they were helping with the church restart across the road from Penndel, as they had been a part of the church for many years and he had been part of the church’s leadership. He was excited about starting it up, and we exchanged numbers. It was cool that God actually really used that, because I ended up randomly praying for the church and I sent what I prayed about by text to the guy. It turns out that the next day the church was going to open up and he had woken up very early because he was anxious and worried. But then he saw the text and it gave him a smile and he knew that God had everything, and that everything was going to be okay. He sent me a text back saying that he prayed that I would wake up with a similar blessing. I went to church that day, and when I checked my phone afterwards I had a text from someone saying that they were providing me with some money for a need that I had that I hadn’t even asked anyone for help on. God used my fire drill to turn into an amazing mutual blessing. It just goes to show that you never know what a muffin (or a fire-drill) can do!”

There are many unique and exciting fire drill experiences that can happen to us, not just at Cairn, but anywhere. Even the most boring and tedious of events can turn into a cherished memory if you make the most of everything. These seniors have experienced many Cairn fire drills, and have made memories that will last a lifetime.