When Columbine became more than a rival high school

The 20th anniversary of Columbine marks a special milestone for me. I’m 40, and, consequently, I’ve lived as many years post-Columbine as I did before.

Columbine has now been a part of the American lexicon longer than it was just another rival school in my life.

Green Mountain, Columbine and Pomona high schools all opened in 1973 to relieve the strain caused by a population boom in Jefferson County.

Sister schools with nearly identical layouts when they opened, none were meant to be anything more than temporary. Had everything gone as planned, there wouldn’t have been a Columbine by 1999.

Read the rest of this column in the Colorado Sun.