""I'm always craving to feel things a bit more than I do the rest of the year," Maudsley says about Columbine's anniversary, and that's why she decided to share the contents of her backpack with her modest online following."
""It's been really crazy, but also really tender and sweet. And it brings attention to someone who's never heard of Columbine. I think we owe it to the victims and to our Columbine community to remember it and to hold it in their heart.""
""I heard two gun shots. I looked up the hall and I saw smoke," Maudsley recalls. "I immediately saw my principal, Frank DeAngelis, running toward us, and a couple of students behind him, and they just had these looks of terror on their faces and were telling us to run.""
""So we're in the small closet filled with basketballs and volleyball nets. I was huddled on the ground crying. Some of my friends were comforting me and I think we were just all so confused. It happened so fast.""
Cindy Maudsley, a Columbine High School freshman during the 1999 shooting, experiences heightened emotions each year as the anniversary approaches. On April 17, 2026, she posted a TikTok video unpacking her backpack, which gained nearly 13 million views. Maudsley expresses a desire to feel more deeply during this time and believes in honoring the victims and the Columbine community. She recalls the chaos of the shooting, including barricading herself in a closet with classmates, feeling confusion and fear as they awaited help from their principal.
Read at TODAY.com
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