LISBON, Maine — It was spirit week at Philip Sugg Middle School in Lisbon Falls, and spirit was in no small supply Thursday morning.
Assistant Principal Mike Toomey and his 300 students wanted to personally thank Lisbon police, who not only responded to the mass shooting in Lewiston the previous Wednesday but secured their own town during the manhunt for the suspect.
Students lined the path in front of the school, then clapped and cheered loudly as officers approached the building.
Some of the students stepped forward with hand-written letters from them and their peers.
"I wrote, 'Thank you to the police officers who sacrificed everything to keep our community safe,'" Carson, an eighth-grader, said.
There were smiles and cheers outside, and life looked normal in the school as students joked and enjoyed lunch together.
But they were still healing.
"It was scary," student Hayley said. "I just worried about my friends, too, and everybody else."
"We're going to pull each other up and push on as a team, and nobody's going to go through anything by themselves," Toomey said.
Nobody was going to go through this by themselves, including the officers.
"[It's] a lot of weight off my shoulders, knowing that they know that we appreciate them without just going on with their everyday life," Conley, a seventh-grader, said.
Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said his wife and kids were locked down during the shelter-in-place order. He said he could not go home to check on them. Thursday morning reminded him and his officers that people appreciated the work they put in the week before to keep danger away.
"Knowing that these kids are safe and how much it means to them means absolutely the world to me and my department," McGee said.
After thanking the police, a group of students and staff left to drop off cards for the town's fire and EMT crews as well.
All of Lisbon was healing, even the people sworn to protect it.