Over My Shoulder: A Columbine Survivor's Story Of Resilience

“Over My Shoulder: A Columbine Survivor’s Story of Resilience, Hope, and a Life Reclaimed” by Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson with Karen Booker Schelhaas is an inspiring autobiography about Kacey and her story as a survivor of the Columbine school shooting. On April 20th, 1999, two students at Columbine High School opened fire. This was one of the first major shootings in a school in America, with thirteen people being killed and more than twenty others being injured, one of which, was Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson. Kacey was a junior in high school at the time and attended Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Every day, she and her best friend, Lindsay, would meet up before their lunch break and go back to the Ruegsegger’s house, since they lived

After searching for some time, she decided to park in a comfortable chair in the library and eat a small snack she had packed instead of going home to eat. Little did she know it would almost cost her life. Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson and Karen Booker Schelhaas’s “Over My Shoulder: A Columbine Survivor’s Story of Resilience, Hope, and a Life Reclaimed” is an inspiring story about a girl persevering through extreme trauma and coming out of it stronger than ever. The authors, Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson, and Karen Booker Schelhaas grew up separately but later became good friends as mothers. Later, they combined themselves, Kacey with her fascinating life story and Karen with her skill for creative storytelling, and together, they wrote “Over My Shoulder: A Columbine Survivor’s Story of Resilience, Hope and a Life Reclaimed.” They did not use any primary and secondary sources, as this book is simply about Kacey’s life story. The authors are qualified to write this because it is Kacey’s story of her firsthand experience with the Columbine shooting, and Karen is helping her tell her story in the best way

Even though she does not have any of the background or credentials to write about the shooting itself, Kacey is the most qualified person to tell her own story. Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson and Karen Booker Schelhaas’s thesis throughout this book was that physical, mental, and emotional suffering can be overcome through a lot of hard work, courage and resilience to build a life, a family, and a loving home. The book followed through with this thesis by showing how Kacey’s courage and resilience helped her overcome her personal struggles and difficulties of her teenage years, to come out of it better than ever and helping her build the strength to share her story and use it for good, as well as continuing on to build a loving family in her adult life. One example of this is when Kacey overcame her mental struggles after so many of her friends passed away, she recovered from her deep depression and suicidal ideation through perseverance and faith. With the help and the support of her family and her church, Kacey recovered and learned from her struggles. This is evident when she writes, “.I did not dip back into depression and struggle with suicidal