Lights Out: The Townview Power Outage 2025

“What a beautiful way to start the morning— a power outage!” It was a bright, sunny Monday morning with students waiting in line to enter the school. As you approach the entrance, you realize that inside the building is pitch black; no WiFi, no electricity, no way of telling time, and no clue of where to go or what to do. 

     Whether you arrived at school early, late, or on time, all students were met with the chaos caused by the power outage.

Timeline of Events: How it went down 

8:20 A.M. – Lights Out

 Suddenly, the building lost power. “I was just getting ready to upload the assignments for today and boom, the lights went out,” said Mr. Smeltzer. The early bird students of Townview were left completely confused. 

     ¨I was wondering why the line was taking longer than usual, but then I realized it was pitch black inside¨ said Elian, Junior

8:30-8-40 A.M. – The Commons Apocalypse

      All students were directed to The Commons. As students came down in search of their friends, they were met with the humidity and an overcrowded cafeteria. Eventually, some students came to the realization that humans have the capacity to choose their actions: free will. 

     In the courtyard, people were  happily playing sports like volleyball and soccer, catching up with

their friends, or just simply enjoying the outside breeze at nine in the morning.

     Some students were also asking themselves; is this part of Fright Fest, did Townview pay their light bill, will lunch be canceled? 

     “Has Townview gone broke?”- Michelle, Junior  

      Despite the confusion, it was nice seeing Townview students having fun with their free will while being stress free. This liveliness era went on for about an hour. 

10:00 A.M.

     At around this time, security and teachers started sending students to their 5th period classes. With still no Wifi and electricity, no work got done in the morning. (Yay, a Monday with no work due!) The teachers were also presented with many questions the students wished to be answered, both silly and serious.

     “if you have a question, I cannot answer it”- jokingly said Lyons, Smeltzer and Ms. Lee

     “I don’t know, I just work here”- Ms. Lee

     As students began to fill in their free time, Natalie, a Junior at the Law Magnet, went around asking people their opinions about the power outage.  Other students were quite literally still stressing about their work. Some of us may have started spiraling and began a karaoke session. Some students simply ate and took well needed naps. Others even enjoyed the dark classroom and played games like Mafia and Heads Up Seven Up.

11:48 Let There Be Light

     Lunch was released based on the floor you were, so confusion was still around as there was still darkness upon the hallways. To get lunch, you had to manually write your name and student ID. Lunch was still as usual though! Kids were eating in and outside of the cafeteria, and others were still playing outside. We were roaming the outdoors when we realized the gymnasiums lights were turned on.

What Really Happened

To put it straight: there was no government conspiracy, no explosions, and yes, Townview did in fact pay its light bill. The culprit? A failed transformer on the east side of the building.

     “It’s kinda crazy, apparently we had some people see the explosion of the transformer, but it wasn’t like a big explosion, it was like an electrical fuss out like what you would expect.”- Emily, The Law Magnet Queen

     A transformer is an electrical device that uses electromagnetic induction to change the voltage of an alternating current electrical power.

When a transformer fails, it can cause a localized power outage, which is exactly what occurred at the Townview Magnet Center on September 29th.

     Outages similar to this can last for hours or even days, causing traffic light failures, business closures, and safety hazards until utility crews can determine the root of the problem and complete the necessary repairs. Taking that into consideration, Townview and the surrounding neighborhoods were very fortunate that the issue was repaired in a safe and timely manner, roughly around 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Issues Raised

While the blackout may have been entertaining, it revealed many concerns:

• Without internet and cell phones, students had no way to get in contact with family in case of an emergency.

     “They should give me my phone back because either way there is no light so I really need my phone.”- Valeria, Junior

• Communication from staff was limited, leaving both teachers and students equally as confused.

     “I know nothing”- Mr. Smeltzer

• The Commons was overcrowded and was beginning to overheat.

     “There is currently no power at school, which sucks because that means that there’s no air conditioning, the microwaves aren’t working , and neither are the lights… I don’t think its gonna get fixed today”- Fatima, Junior

• There was no clear protocol for what to do if the outage had lasted longer.

     “I’m kinda concerned for how they are gonna keep us here because this is not okay, I’m kinda scared, it would be really bad if an intruder came in”- Briana, Junior

The Aftermath

With the return of power in our school, students were not exactly thrilled. 

     “I feel disappointed that the lights are back on, I want to go home”- Kamilah, Junior

     Roaming the dark spooky hallways of Townview allowed us to experience firsthand the chaos and curiosity the blackout brought. With an insane way to start the school week, especially with the back-to-back lock downs, students found ways to push. If there is one thing  we were taught, it is that humans are simply curious beings. Free will exists within us! We had one iPad, one camera, one vision, and captured many curious souls.

• Natalie and Nelly signing out,

see you in the next blackout (or not…hehehe)