Chardon, Ohio (CNN) -- The cafeteria table where the deadly Ohio high school shooting began became a somber memorial for grief-stricken students returning for Friday first full day of classes since the incident.
A boy at Chardon High opened fire on Monday and killed three classmates. Two other students were hospitalized and another was grazed by gunfire.
The shooting rocked the school and the community of 5,100 people located 30 miles east of Cleveland. Teens heading back to their daily routines noticed some changes designed to reassure and calm them.
Senior Garrett Szalay told CNN the lunchroom table where the shooting began hasn't been moved. Flowers and stuffed animals are sitting on top of it, he said.
The cafeteria was repainted and tables were rearranged to give the room a different look. The table, with its fake woodgrain top, chrome legs and bench seats, sits perpendicular in the cafeteria, a counterpoint to the way the other tables are arranged.
Grief counselors and police were on hand, and the principal led a moment of silence, Szalay said
"Everyone is here for each other," Szalay said. "But a lot of us are moving on."
The person who authorities say is responsible, 17-year-old T.J. Lane, was charged Thursday afternoon with three counts of aggravated murder, two of attempted aggravated murder and one of felonious assault, the latter related to the student who was "nicked in the ear" by a bullet, according to Geauga County Prosecuting Attorney David Joyce.
Friday marked the first full school day since the incident, a return that administrators and staff touted as key to helping people through the healing process.
School superintendent Joseph Bergant said that staff spent two days working on the transition, expressing confidence that they'll be ready to provide comfort and support to those still trying to make sense of this week's carnage.
Some students were with their parents in the school on Thursday and counseling has been made available at various locales since the shooting.
"I watched families walk through the school holding hands, I watched people helping each other come back into the school," said Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland of the scene inside the school Thursday. "It was an incredible spirit of Chardon. I'll never forget that. This is why we live here."
Frank Hall, an assistant football coach and study hall teacher who chased the gunman from the school, said Thursday it was important that students and staff return -- if for no other reason than to "show that terror and evil do not win out."
source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/02/justice/ohio-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=us_c2
