WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — September 1st, 2021 was a day that changed everything for many Mount Tabor High School students.
"In the aftermath, I wasn't the same person at all. I couldn't sleep at night. I couldn't focus and I just wasn't myself," former senior Matthew Maynard said.
Parents also felt the effects.
"I don't think he'll forget for years to come and so many other community members won't forget," Mount Tabor parent Micha James said.
James is talking about her son Michai. He was a senior at Mount Tabor last September. James says she remembers the moment she heard the news and luckily Michai was off campus.
"We were grateful absolutely grateful to hear his voice and to know that he wasn't taken, "James said.
In the hours and days following the shooting, James and the community found out what happened.
One student, William Miller Jr., was killed by another student. It's a hard pill to swallow for Maynard.
"Knowing that I was one of the lucky ones to make it home that day but he wasn't, it's very very sad and it's not something that anybody should have to live through at all," Maynard said.
Maynard said he was in the building when the lockdown started and it was hours before he was reunited with his parents.
Maynard was the Co-editor-in-chief for the school's newspaper and said writing the story about what happened helped him process it.
"That provided a lot of closure, being able to understand the events of that day and what really transpired and took place, that definitely helped me move on," Maynard said.
It was the same for James' son Michai. She said he was seeing a therapist when it happened and continues to see one now.
She's part of Our Opportunity to Love and Heal coalition, focusing on combatting gun violence in the Triad.
She hates that something this tragic had to happen for people to notice the problems. But now that it has, she hopes no one forgets.
"As long as we remember, we need to understand that the problem is not over, the problem has not been resolved and we must come together in order to get it resolved," James said.