Aplington-Parkersburg seniors have faced challenges, tragedies

With a shared history that includes a deadly tornado and the fatal shooting of a beloved coach, the members of the Class of 2012 at Aplington-Parkersburg High School have hung together through tragedy most teenagers never endure.

“It's made me who I am and something I'll carry forever,” said Elizabeth Petersen of Parkersburg, who is bound for Iowa State University in Ames.

This group never enjoyed a formal graduation from the district's middle school in Aplington, Principal Dave Meyer said. On May 25, 2008, at the end of their eighth-grade year, an EF5 tornado slashed through Parkersburg, killing eight people and destroying hundreds of homes. The storm demolished the high school gym and tore the roof off the building.

When it was over, Matt Wicks of Parkersburg walked up from the basement in his home and saw the outdoors.

“We decided to play it safe and go to the basement,” said the future freshman at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. “Two minutes after we got there, the tornado hit and the house was leveled.”

In the weeks that followed, the town's teenagers worked alongside the adults to clean up the damage. And instead of leaving middle school behind, these students spent their first year of high school back in the same building.

“It was weird to be done with middle school but still going to middle school in the same building,” said Jason Grill of Aplington, who will play football at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls.

Then in June 2009, when the Class of 2012 was just two months from entering the rebuilt high school as sophomores, longtime football head coach and educator Ed Thomas was killed by a former player in the school's weight room.

“I was in the weight room doing my morning lifts and right there when it happened,” Wicks said.

Petersen and her older sister were there, too.

“You go through those things and see what's really important in life,” she said. “I wouldn't change anything in the past, but it opened my eyes.”

All three of the seniors said these experiences shaped their formative years and will guide them far beyond Parkersburg.

“The drama and the petty things weren't that important after everything,” Petersen said of her high school experience.

“It made me a better person,” Grill said. “It changed my thinking and no matter how bad it is, someone else has it worse and to man up and do as much as you can.”

“It brought a new seriousness to life,” Wicks said. “I started to look at things differently and not take things for granted.”