03/30/2026
There was a tornado in Rogers County a couple weekends ago.
When Rylee's students at a Rogers County school came back to class the next week, she found out they hadn't just survived it. They'd used what she taught them.
Months ago — back in the fall — RCYS prevention specialist, Rylee Shearrer, introduced her students to distress tolerance skills. How to self-soothe when everything feels like too much. How to redirect your mind when fear takes over. She taught it, they practiced it, and then life moved on.
Until that Saturday night.
One by one, students shared what they did during the storm when the fear set in. They named the skills. They described using them. In the dark, in the middle of a tornado, elementary school kids reached back for something they learned in a classroom — and found it.
Rylee told them something, too. That she doesn't like storms either. That
she uses deep breaths to stay calm. That the skills work because she
uses them herself.
That's not a lesson plan. That's a relationship. And it may have
been the most important thing those kids learned all year.
