A Spice Valley Middle School student, who moved to Bermuda from Colorado four years ago, had met Eric Harris -- one of the killers involved in the Columbine High School shooting.

Brett Daleske, 14, originally from a town near Columbine, in Colorado was shocked when he heard the news on TV the day after Harris and Dillon Klebol gunned down 13 students before shooting themselves.

He had been friends with children who were due to attend that school as freshmen and felt compelled to do something to show his concern for the surviving students.

He approached his school principal, Patricia Holder, to see what he could do to help the Columbine students and she suggested that he organise something with his home room advisor Mrs. Melanie Burrows.

What followed was an outpouring of support and sympathy from almost all of the students at Spice Valley who made cards, posters, friendship bracelets and collages and wrote letters and poems to send to Littleton to encourage and comfort the students who lived through the terrible event.

Brett told The Royal Gazette : "I just felt really sorry for them and was shocked by what I saw on television.'' He added that he was really worried about the people he knew who attended the school.

Mrs. Burrows agreed other students at her school were greatly impacted by the event despite the fact that these types of incidents were no longer extraordinary occurrences at US schools.

Student recalls Columbine killer "What really struck the children about this particular incident was the number of students killed and the level of planning that went into the attack,'' she said.

When asked about his impressions on meeting Eric Harris, Brett explained that he found him unusual and mentioned that he had worn black fingernail polish even four years ago.

Brett and friend Justin DeSilva, 13, said they could not imagine what it would be like to experience such an event at their own school and were glad it was illegal to possess guns in Bermuda.

Asked if they felt violent video games and movies were contributing to an increase in violence in their peers, Justin said he felt music was the main factor: "When you hear a rock star that you idolise saying or doing violent things you can understand how kids would think that it is okay to act the way their idol does,'' he said.

Both boys said they liked to play the shooting video games and the racing games because they were action-packed and exciting but, at the same time, they could not ever imagine being so filled with anger that they could do something like what Harris and Klebold had done.

However, Brett said he knew how it felt to be "different'' from other students because that was what he experienced when he first moved to Bermuda.

He admitted he had been in a fight his first week at school here. But Brett said he believed in general, kids should be kinder to one another and respect each other's differences.

Mrs. Burrows, the head of the Science Department at Spice Valley and a teacher for many years, added these were qualities that teachers often tried to instil in their students; to applaud one another's uniqueness rather than see it as something to be derided.

She also noted that it was more important today than ever for parents to be aware of what activities their children were involved in and to be more active in their children's lives.

She acknowledged parents could not watch their children all day, but said they should talk to them about the violence that they see on television and read about in books.

Mrs. Burrows pointed out that the overriding message the students at Spice Valley wanted to send to Columbine High School was that their friends in Bermuda were thinking about them and were praying for them.

Some of the children mentioned in their messages that they could relate to the students' sorrow at losing someone close to them because they too had lost a relative or friend.

Student unity: Spice Valley students Brett Daleske and Justin Desilva show a poster for the survivors of the Columbine shooting.

Graphic file name: KIDDS