First day of school signifies fresh start for tornado-stricken Henryville

The first day of school signifies a fresh start for one Indiana community.

Students and teachers in Henryville are going back into the building that took a direct hit from a tornado in March, and now, they are looking toward the future.

At Henryville, it took more than just the town, the teachers and students to rebuild here. They'll tell you they owe thanks to the entire nation, who lent their thoughts and support from the very first day after the damage.

On March 2, a devastating E-F 4 tornado ravaged the town. Nearly half of the elementary and junior senior high school building was destroyed, and the rest of the building was badly damaged.
Now, five months later, the building is ready for students once again.

“There’s lots of silver lining in this,” said Principal Glenn Riggs. “Brought the staff together, really congealed the students. There’s just lots of pluses that came about because of a catastrophic weather event.”

The $55 million project was the effort of thousands of people who donated their time, money and efforts to make this first day back to school possible.

The Henryville Hornets are returning to the hive and everyone is grateful and looking forward to getting back to school.

Assistant Superintendent John Reed says this was a learning experience on the definition of community.