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Sherpas, climbers sign Everest treaty

Saudi woman makes Everest history

“Oh, boy, we’ve got to get down,” Whittaker thought. “Getting to the summit is half of the climb. You’re working so hard to get up, you don’t really think about anything else.”

Whittaker’s expedition members’ childhoods had been filled with a passion for climbing.

Richard Pownall was bitten by the mountaineering bug in 1943 when an English teacher sent students to the library to pick out a book. After reading about climbing, Pownall got a summer job working at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, but that stint couldn’t sate his curiosity and zeal for exploration.

Whittaker discovered his passion at 14, scaling the peaks of the Northwest U.S. and, later, while guiding people up Mount Rainier in college. After summiting Mount McKinley, the highest U.S. peak, the next natural step was “the big one,” he said.

When the Americans began scaling Everest, their journey was far different from that of today’s climbers. For one, they were the only team on the mountain at the time.

They also had to trek 185 miles through the sweltering Chitwa Jungle, their packs stuffed with cold-weather gear for when the elevation rose. That’s about the distance from Seattle, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, though the Nepalese trek involves pathways along 18,000-foot ridges, Whittaker pointed out.

Today, climbers fly 140 miles into Nepal and trek 40 miles into base camp.

Sydney (CNN) — When winter hits, Sydney becomes something of a ghost town as its 4 million or so residents retreat indoors to acclimatize to the cold.

Incredible Opera House timelapse

Headlining Vivid Live, the festival’s ticketed live music program, are German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. Other acts included Joy Division and Vangelis from the UK and homegrown acts Cloud Control and Empire of the Sun. Bobby Womack called in sick.

Vivid Ideas, the festival’s third and final arm, comprises more than 100 lectures, workshops and debates. Led by global leaders in the fields of fashion, film, publishing, architecture and design, it underlines Sydney’s standing as a global epicenter for creative arts.

“Vivid now leads the world in sheer number and size of buildings projections — no other city lights up its famous landmarks and skyscrapers the way we do,” says creative adviser Ignatius Jones, who co-directed the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ opening ceremony.

“This year we’re going to have 60 light sculptures — nearly twice as many as last year. It’s going to be really, really big.”

(CNN) — It was like any other day. If anything, it might have been a little better than usual — with more deserved honors for the kids, more jokes and songs, more smiles. Even Mother Nature, after storms the previous day, seemed at first to cooperate as the sun shone brightly.

But things changed quickly.

And in Oklahoma, where adults and children alike habitually practice what to do if a tornado strikes, change can prove deadly.

Things are different, more heartbreaking now for students and staff at Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementary schools in Moore, both of them leveled by a tornado.

“A lot of pain, a lot of tears, very little food and very little sleep is the way you get through it,” Plaza Towers principal Amy Simpson said Friday.

The memories linger. They are not just of the horrible moments when the twister tore through their schools, but the minutes before as teachers did what they could to keep their students safe and in control as it approached, the short time before that as frenzied parents rushed in looking for their sons and daughters, and the hours before that when everything seemed perfect.

“What started off as a normal day at Plaza Towers tuned into a horrible, horrible thing for seven families,” said Simpson, referring to the seven of her students killed by the storm.

Principal: Teachers saved students

Exclusive: Classroom’s tornado encounter

Principal: ‘The evening was a nightmare’

Principal, teachers reunite amid rubble

A frenzied, yet controlled few horrific minutes

Each school week at Plaza Towers starts with “Rise and Shine.” It’s a chance for students to see their teachers and counselors, to sing and recite the school creed, and to honor youngsters’ accomplishments inside and outside school.

“During that morning meeting, we celebrate kids,” the school’s principal said.

On Monday, the celebrations didn’t end there. Simpson recalled then heading to an hour-long award ceremony for first and second graders to toast their many achievements, then to a practice for sixth-graders’ commencement exercises.

After that, kids started filing into the cafeteria for the first of six lunch sessions the school has.

“Everything in the morning went exactly as it has for the last 170 days,” Simpson recalled.

It was after lunch that teachers first got word to be on alert for severe weather.

Still, at that point, no one knew a twister was heading their way. Simpson continued to go about her business, interviewing a candidate for a pre-kindergarten position, when she noticed heavy thunderstorms roll through.

Simpson ended the interview and noticed parents starting to stream in to pick up their kids. This happens often when it rains heavily, but the principal sensed something abnormal was up as parents rushed in faster and in greater numbers than usual.

“At that point, I made a decision that you didn’t have to check out your child the formal way,” Simpson recalled, saying she stood out front to see who was coming and going.

Some parents were noticeably scared. One father, Simpson said, was “in a panic.” She told him that he had to calm down — so as not to alarm any students — before he went through the hallways to retrieve his child.

This steady stream lasted 5 or 6 minutes before the sirens went off, indicating a tornado on the ground. Simpson got on the intercom and told everyone to do what they’d practiced in all those drills. Then she walked up and down the hallways. (She couldn’t get to where her second and third-graders were, however, as they were in a different building.)

Some teachers tracked the twister on mobile devices, until Simpson asked them to turn them off. She did another walk-through and saw her staffers rubbing the backs of their students, some of whom — with their heads down and hands over their heads — sang.

When the principal got back to the front of the school, the tornado was nearly on top of them. She got on the intercom one more time.

“It’s here.”

Rising from the rubble

Simpson huddled in a bathroom with four other women. “The only time I yelled (I said), ‘In God’s name, go away, go away.’ I said it about four times.”

Debris was still flying when Simpson pushed out the door, stepped over a sink, and noticed “the whole neighborhood was gone.”

Somehow, her phone rang. It was her mother, and she told her to call 911.

There were no more walls left in her school. The bumper of a car sat between the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.

“I could see the kids peeking around what used to be a corner,” Simpson said.

Justin Ayres, a fifth-grade teacher who was the first to spot the twister, was the first one out on one side of what had been the school. Men and women, meanwhile, were running foward to help.

Within minutes, Simpson recalled, the pre-K, kindergarten and first graders were safely out. Her husband soon arrived and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I said, ‘Go help second and third grade,’” referring to those students who were in a different, nearby building. “I haven’t seen any of them yet.”

More and more students emerged, some of them heading to a nearby church. But what had been the second- and third-grade building was precarious, at best.

“I made my way around there, then I begged and pleaded for the human chain to get me up there,” Simpson said. “They did. And they were pulling out students and teachers.”

All seven killed at Plaza Towers died in that rubble.

“The rest of the evening was a nightmare.”

‘They grew up really fast’

Briarwood Elementary Principal Shelley Jaques-McMillin’s first impression of Monday?

“I remember thinking, “Yeah, it’s sunny! So we’re going to be able to go outside.”

School started, as it always does, with what’s called the Grizzly Growl — a time for singing, dancing, celebrating.

“(I remember) the happy faces, how excited they were, just seeing them smile,” said Jaques-McMillin. And there was laughter when a special guest — a sheep — made a special appearance. Staffers had to give it a kiss, because a group of students had reached their reading goal.

Lunchtime that day was especially fun.

“This is what school is about,” Jaques-McMillin remembered saying at the time. “This is why we do what we do. They’re so happy.”

The next few hours went by in a blur — in some ways, much like at Plaza Towers. There were the students and staff doing what they’d practiced in tornado drills — the sirens, and more.

Jaques-McMillin felt stronger, more resolute this time than when the last EF5 tornado — the strongest such classification — came through Moore. When that happened, she was alone and horrified.

This time was different. She had a sense of purpose, beyond simply making sure they survived.

“I have 675 students that I promise their parents every single day, I will protect your kids,” Jaques-McMillin said. “I’ll feed them, they’ll be safe, and I’ll give them back at the end of the day.”

Briarwood Elementary didn’t survive the tornado, but everyone who had been inside did.

They included 4-year-olds and students set to move onto seventh grade, though they were still kids at heart.

Yet on Monday, one of them reached down to a teacher, who was trapped in the rubble with water from a busted pipe blowing in her face.

“He grabbed her hand and said, ‘Calm down, I’m going to dig you out.”

And he did, just a few days after letting loose during a “Glow in the Dark” party.

“Here they were, being silly on Friday night, … dancing, being sixth-graders,” Jaques-McMillin said. “They grew up really fast.”

Washington (CNN) — Drone strikes are a necessary evil, but one that must be used with more temperance as the United States’ security situation evolves, President Barack Obama said Thursday.

America prefers to capture, interrogate and prosecute terrorists, but there are times when this isn’t possible, Obama said in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington. Terrorists intentionally hide in hard-to-reach locales and putting boots on the ground is often out of the question, he said.

Thus, when the United States is faced with a threat from terrorists in a country where the government has only tenuous or no influence, drones strikes are the only option — and they’re legal because America “is at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and their associated forces,” Obama said.

He added, however, “To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance. For the same progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power — or risk abusing it.”

Increased oversight is important, but not easy, Obama said. While he has considered a special court or independent oversight board, those options are problematic, so he plans to talk with Congress to determine how best to handle the deployment of drones, he said.

Obama speaks on anti-terror strategy

Obama defends secret drone program

Obama’s counterterrorism policy

The battle to force feed Gitmo detainees

The nation’s image was a theme throughout the speech, as Obama emphasized some actions in recent years — drone strikes and Guantanamo Bay key among them — risk creating more threats. The nature of threats against the United States have changed since he took office — they’ve become more localized — and so, too, must efforts to combat them, he said.

“From our use of drones to the detention of terror suspects, the decisions that we are making now will define the type of nation and world that we leave to our children,” he said.

Today, al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan worry more about protecting their own skin than attacking America, he said, but the threat is more diffuse, extending into places such as Yemen, Iraq, Somalia and North Africa. And al Qaeda’s ideology helped fuel attacks like the ones at the Boston Marathon and U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Obama said the use of lethal force extends to U.S. citizens as well.

On Wednesday, his administration disclosed for the first time that four Americans had been killed in counterterrorist drone strikes overseas, including one person who was targeted by the United States.

“When a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America — and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens; and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot — his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team,” Obama said.

To stop terrorists from gaining a foothold, drones will be deployed, Obama said, but only when there is an imminent threat; no hope of capturing the targeted terrorist; “near certainty” that civilians won’t be harmed; and “there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat.” Never will a strike be punitive, he said.

Those who die as collateral damage “will haunt us for as long as we live,” the president said, but he emphasized that the targeted individuals aim to exact indiscriminate violence, “and the death toll from their acts of terrorism against Muslims dwarfs any estimate of civilian casualties from drone strikes.”

It’s not always feasible to send in Special Forces, as in the Osama bin Laden raid, to stamp out terrorism, and even if it were, the introduction of troops could mean more deaths on both sides, Obama said.

“The result would be more U.S. deaths, more Blackhawks down, more confrontations with local populations and an inevitable mission creep in support of such raids that could easily escalate into new wars,” he said.

The American public is split on where and how drones should be used, according to a March poll by Gallup.

Although 65% of respondents said drones should be used against suspected terrorists abroad, only 41% said drones should be used against American citizens who are suspected terrorists in foreign countries.

Guantanamo to shut down?

Guantanamo Bay also threatens to create new enemies of the state and diminish the country’s moral standing in the world, Obama said, revisiting a campaign promise he made before his first term.

“The original premise for opening Gitmo — that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention — was found unconstitutional five years ago,” he said. “In the meantime, Gitmo has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.”

Because of what Gitmo represents, some allies are reluctant to cooperate on investigations with the United States if a suspect might land at the controversial detention center, Obama said.

That’s not to mention the economic implications, the president said. The country spends $150 million annually to imprison 166 suspects, and the Defense Department estimates that keeping Gitmo open may cost another $200 million “at a time when we are cutting investments in education and research here at home,” he said.

Explaining that no prisoner has ever escaped a supermax or military facility — and noting U.S. courts have had no issue prosecuting terrorists, some more dangerous than those at Guantanamo — Obama said he would push again to close the detention center and appoint State and Defense department envoys to make sure the detainees are transferred to other countries.

Seventy percent of respondents to a February 2012 ABC/Washington Post poll said they approve of keeping the facility open for suspected terrorists. Only 24% said it should be closed.

One of his initiatives aims to lift a moratorium on transferring prisoners to Yemen, long a volatile land but now ruled by a government regarded by the United States as a “willing and able partner.” Yemenis make up a significant portion of Guantanamo inmates.

In a statement issued through its embassy in Washington, Yemen’s government welcomed the U.S. decision and vowed to “work with the United States to take all necessary steps to ensure the safe return of its detainees and will continue working towards their gradual rehabilitation and integration back into society.”

Obama said he will insist on judicial review from every Guantanamo detainee, and when it’s appropriate, terrorists will be transferred stateside to stand trial in courts and “our military justice system.”

“Given my administration’s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened,” the president said.

There are 86 inmates at Guantanamo who have been cleared for transfer, 56 of them from Yemen.

While Obama worked to close Guantanamo early in his first term, Congress enacted significant restrictions on the transfer of detainees from the prison that made its closure impractical.

This year, the State Department reassigned the special envoy who had been tasked in 2009 with closing the facility and lowered the post’s profile by assigning the job to the department’s legal adviser’s office.

The problem has been exacerbated by the fact more than half the facility’s inmates engaging in various forms of hunger strike, more than 20 of them being force-fed.

New dangers have emerged

Obama made the case that the al Qaeda terror network in the Afghan and Pakistan region has been weakened but that new dangers have emerged as the U.S. winds down operations in Afghanistan after more than a decade of war triggered by the 9/11 attacks.

Threats that have emerged come from al Qaeda affiliates, localized extremist groups and homegrown terrorists, like the two men suspected of attacking the Boston Marathon last month.

The administration has been considering shifting control of lethal drone operations from the CIA to the military. One senior administration official said the “military is the appropriate agency to use force,” not to rule out the range of options needed to deal with threats.

By law, the military is not able to act in the covert way the CIA can in this particular arena and must answer to Congress.

In his confirmation hearing for CIA director, John Brennan expressed a desire to move the agency away from paramilitary operations and back to traditional areas of espionage.

“The CIA should not be doing traditional military activities and operations,” he said.

Obama rejected the idea of a global war on terror in favor of a more focused approach that will engage on specific networks of extremists who threaten the United States.

The administration plans to avoid operations that will cause civilian casualties and wants to work with partners in its operations.

Use of force will be part of a larger strategy to deal with instability and hostility. Obama discussed strategies for promoting democratic governance and economic development and fostering U.S. engagement around the world.

London (CNN) — Concern grew Saturday that the slaying of a British soldier by attackers who claimed they were acting to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas has prompted a swell in anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain.

A group which monitors incidents of anti-Muslim abuse said Saturday morning it had seen a huge increase in the number of reported incidents in the past 48 hours.

Meanwhile Northumbria Police said its officers had arrested three people in northern England on suspicion of posting racist tweets Saturday, ahead of a planned protest march in Newcastle by the far-right English Defence League.

Another group, Newcastle Unites, will stage a counter demonstration at the same time.

“The policing operation will allow people the right to peaceful protest, protect the safety of everyone in the city and prevent serious disorder and damage,” a police statement said.

London (CNN) — Concern grew Saturday that the slaying of a British soldier by attackers who claimed they were acting to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas has prompted a swell in anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain.

A group which monitors incidents of anti-Muslim abuse said Saturday morning it had seen a huge increase in the number of reported incidents in the past 48 hours.

Meanwhile Northumbria Police said its officers had arrested three people in northern England on suspicion of posting racist tweets Saturday, ahead of a planned protest march in Newcastle by the far-right English Defence League.

Another group, Newcastle Unites, will stage a counter demonstration at the same time.

“The policing operation will allow people the right to peaceful protest, protect the safety of everyone in the city and prevent serious disorder and damage,” a police statement said.

(CNN) — One was a “nice guy,” who was “friendly and very polite” and “just wanted to help everybody.”

Then there was the “crazed … animal” — someone who’d brutally hack to death a man in broad daylight on the streets of London, then tried to justify it and suggested there was more violence to come.

Two vastly descriptions, for one person: Michael Adebolajo.

While British police have not named any of the men arrested in connection with Wednesday’s gory slaying of British soldier Lee Rigby, one of them didn’t hide his identity at the time. That man — toting a meat cleaver and large kitchen knife in his bloody hands — sought out a cell phone camera minutes after the attack to justify what he and another man allegedly had just done.

Capture of London terror suspects

UK PM seeks answers on London attack

London hacking victim named

Family of Woolwich victim speaks

“The only reason we killed this man … is because Muslims are dying daily,” he said in a video later aired by CNN affiliate ITN. “This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

He was not done. The man insisted British people should force their government to remove troops from “our lands” — an apparent reference to largely Islamic countries like Iraq and Afghanistan — or else they’d see more bloodshed.

“You will never be safe,” he said.

Friends, acquaintances and British media identified the man of this video as Adebolajo. He hasn’t been heard from in public since he made those remarks, as Rigby’s mutilated body lay behind him.

He and the 22-year-old with him rushed at armed police when they arrived at the site of the attack on southeast London’s Woolwich neighborhood. Both were wounded by gunfire, and are now under guard in South London hospitals.

Others, though, have spoken about the 28-year-old Adebolajo — explaining who he was and, in some cases, why he allegedly did what he did.

“He was dedicated to Islam and wanted to put himself at its service and defend it,” said one of his former associates in Al-Muhajiroun, a British group of Islamic extremists virulently opposed to UK intervention in Iraq and openly supportive of al Qaeda.

Described as polite, passionate about Islam

A British national of Nigerian descent, Adebolajo was born into a Catholic family, according to this former associate. At least a decade ago, he converted to Islam.

(CNN) — One was a “nice guy,” who was “friendly and very polite” and “just wanted to help everybody.”

Then there was the “crazed … animal” — someone who’d brutally hack to death a man in broad daylight on the streets of London, then tried to justify it and suggested there was more violence to come.

Two vastly descriptions, for one person: Michael Adebolajo.

While British police have not named any of the men arrested in connection with Wednesday’s gory slaying of British soldier Lee Rigby, one of them didn’t hide his identity at the time. That man — toting a meat cleaver and large kitchen knife in his bloody hands — sought out a cell phone camera minutes after the attack to justify what he and another man allegedly had just done.

Capture of London terror suspects

UK PM seeks answers on London attack

London hacking victim named

Family of Woolwich victim speaks

“The only reason we killed this man … is because Muslims are dying daily,” he said in a video later aired by CNN affiliate ITN. “This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

He was not done. The man insisted British people should force their government to remove troops from “our lands” — an apparent reference to largely Islamic countries like Iraq and Afghanistan — or else they’d see more bloodshed.

“You will never be safe,” he said.

Friends, acquaintances and British media identified the man of this video as Adebolajo. He hasn’t been heard from in public since he made those remarks, as Rigby’s mutilated body lay behind him.

He and the 22-year-old with him rushed at armed police when they arrived at the site of the attack on southeast London’s Woolwich neighborhood. Both were wounded by gunfire, and are now under guard in South London hospitals.

Others, though, have spoken about the 28-year-old Adebolajo — explaining who he was and, in some cases, why he allegedly did what he did.

“He was dedicated to Islam and wanted to put himself at its service and defend it,” said one of his former associates in Al-Muhajiroun, a British group of Islamic extremists virulently opposed to UK intervention in Iraq and openly supportive of al Qaeda.

Described as polite, passionate about Islam

A British national of Nigerian descent, Adebolajo was born into a Catholic family, according to this former associate. At least a decade ago, he converted to Islam.

(CNN) — It was like any other day. If anything, it might have been a little better than usual — with more deserved honors for the kids, more jokes and songs, more smiles. Even Mother Nature, after storms the previous day, seemed at first to cooperate as the sun shone brightly.

But things changed quickly.

And in Oklahoma, where adults and children alike habitually practice what to do if a tornado strikes, change can prove deadly.

Things are different, more heartbreaking now for students and staff at Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementary schools in Moore, both of them leveled by a tornado.

“A lot of pain, a lot of tears, very little food and very little sleep is the way you get through it,” Plaza Towers principal Amy Simpson said Friday.

The memories linger. They are not just of the horrible moments when the twister tore through their schools, but the minutes before as teachers did what they could to keep their students safe and in control as it approached, the short time before that as frenzied parents rushed in looking for their sons and daughters, and the hours before that when everything seemed perfect.

“What started off as a normal day at Plaza Towers tuned into a horrible, horrible thing for seven families,” said Simpson, referring to the seven of her students killed by the storm.

Principal: Teachers saved students

Exclusive: Classroom’s tornado encounter

Principal: ‘The evening was a nightmare’

Principal, teachers reunite amid rubble

A frenzied, yet controlled few horrific minutes

Each school week at Plaza Towers starts with “Rise and Shine.” It’s a chance for students to see their teachers and counselors, to sing and recite the school creed, and to honor youngsters’ accomplishments inside and outside school.

“During that morning meeting, we celebrate kids,” the school’s principal said.

On Monday, the celebrations didn’t end there. Simpson recalled then heading to an hour-long award ceremony for first and second graders to toast their many achievements, then to a practice for sixth-graders’ commencement exercises.

After that, kids started filing into the cafeteria for the first of six lunch sessions the school has.

“Everything in the morning went exactly as it has for the last 170 days,” Simpson recalled.

It was after lunch that teachers first got word to be on alert for severe weather.

Still, at that point, no one knew a twister was heading their way. Simpson continued to go about her business, interviewing a candidate for a pre-kindergarten position, when she noticed heavy thunderstorms roll through.

Simpson ended the interview and noticed parents starting to stream in to pick up their kids. This happens often when it rains heavily, but the principal sensed something abnormal was up as parents rushed in faster and in greater numbers than usual.

“At that point, I made a decision that you didn’t have to check out your child the formal way,” Simpson recalled, saying she stood out front to see who was coming and going.

Some parents were noticeably scared. One father, Simpson said, was “in a panic.” She told him that he had to calm down — so as not to alarm any students — before he went through the hallways to retrieve his child.

This steady stream lasted 5 or 6 minutes before the sirens went off, indicating a tornado on the ground. Simpson got on the intercom and told everyone to do what they’d practiced in all those drills. Then she walked up and down the hallways. (She couldn’t get to where her second and third-graders were, however, as they were in a different building.)

Some teachers tracked the twister on mobile devices, until Simpson asked them to turn them off. She did another walk-through and saw her staffers rubbing the backs of their students, some of whom — with their heads down and hands over their heads — sang.

When the principal got back to the front of the school, the tornado was nearly on top of them. She got on the intercom one more time.

“It’s here.”

Rising from the rubble

Simpson huddled in a bathroom with four other women. “The only time I yelled (I said), ‘In God’s name, go away, go away.’ I said it about four times.”

Debris was still flying when Simpson pushed out the door, stepped over a sink, and noticed “the whole neighborhood was gone.”

Somehow, her phone rang. It was her mother, and she told her to call 911.

There were no more walls left in her school. The bumper of a car sat between the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.

“I could see the kids peeking around what used to be a corner,” Simpson said.

Justin Ayres, a fifth-grade teacher who was the first to spot the twister, was the first one out on one side of what had been the school. Men and women, meanwhile, were running foward to help.

Within minutes, Simpson recalled, the pre-K, kindergarten and first graders were safely out. Her husband soon arrived and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I said, ‘Go help second and third grade,’” referring to those students who were in a different, nearby building. “I haven’t seen any of them yet.”

More and more students emerged, some of them heading to a nearby church. But what had been the second- and third-grade building was precarious, at best.

“I made my way around there, then I begged and pleaded for the human chain to get me up there,” Simpson said. “They did. And they were pulling out students and teachers.”

All seven killed at Plaza Towers died in that rubble.

“The rest of the evening was a nightmare.”

‘They grew up really fast’

Briarwood Elementary Principal Shelley Jaques-McMillin’s first impression of Monday?

“I remember thinking, “Yeah, it’s sunny! So we’re going to be able to go outside.”

School started, as it always does, with what’s called the Grizzly Growl — a time for singing, dancing, celebrating.

“(I remember) the happy faces, how excited they were, just seeing them smile,” said Jaques-McMillin. And there was laughter when a special guest — a sheep — made a special appearance. Staffers had to give it a kiss, because a group of students had reached their reading goal.

Lunchtime that day was especially fun.

“This is what school is about,” Jaques-McMillin remembered saying at the time. “This is why we do what we do. They’re so happy.”

The next few hours went by in a blur — in some ways, much like at Plaza Towers. There were the students and staff doing what they’d practiced in tornado drills — the sirens, and more.

Jaques-McMillin felt stronger, more resolute this time than when the last EF5 tornado — the strongest such classification — came through Moore. When that happened, she was alone and horrified.

This time was different. She had a sense of purpose, beyond simply making sure they survived.

“I have 675 students that I promise their parents every single day, I will protect your kids,” Jaques-McMillin said. “I’ll feed them, they’ll be safe, and I’ll give them back at the end of the day.”

Briarwood Elementary didn’t survive the tornado, but everyone who had been inside did.

They included 4-year-olds and students set to move onto seventh grade, though they were still kids at heart.

Yet on Monday, one of them reached down to a teacher, who was trapped in the rubble with water from a busted pipe blowing in her face.

“He grabbed her hand and said, ‘Calm down, I’m going to dig you out.”

And he did, just a few days after letting loose during a “Glow in the Dark” party.

“Here they were, being silly on Friday night, … dancing, being sixth-graders,” Jaques-McMillin said. “They grew up really fast.”

(CNN) — It was like any other day. If anything, it might have been a little better than usual — with more deserved honors for the kids, more jokes and songs, more smiles. Even Mother Nature, after storms the previous day, seemed at first to cooperate as the sun shone brightly.

But things changed quickly.

And in Oklahoma, where adults and children alike habitually practice what to do if a tornado strikes, change can prove deadly.

Things are different, more heartbreaking now for students and staff at Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementary schools in Moore, both of them leveled by a tornado.

“A lot of pain, a lot of tears, very little food and very little sleep is the way you get through it,” Plaza Towers principal Amy Simpson said Friday.

The memories linger. They are not just of the horrible moments when the twister tore through their schools, but the minutes before as teachers did what they could to keep their students safe and in control as it approached, the short time before that as frenzied parents rushed in looking for their sons and daughters, and the hours before that when everything seemed perfect.

“What started off as a normal day at Plaza Towers tuned into a horrible, horrible thing for seven families,” said Simpson, referring to the seven of her students killed by the storm.

Principal: Teachers saved students

Exclusive: Classroom’s tornado encounter

Principal: ‘The evening was a nightmare’

Principal, teachers reunite amid rubble

A frenzied, yet controlled few horrific minutes

Each school week at Plaza Towers starts with “Rise and Shine.” It’s a chance for students to see their teachers and counselors, to sing and recite the school creed, and to honor youngsters’ accomplishments inside and outside school.

“During that morning meeting, we celebrate kids,” the school’s principal said.

On Monday, the celebrations didn’t end there. Simpson recalled then heading to an hour-long award ceremony for first and second graders to toast their many achievements, then to a practice for sixth-graders’ commencement exercises.

After that, kids started filing into the cafeteria for the first of six lunch sessions the school has.

“Everything in the morning went exactly as it has for the last 170 days,” Simpson recalled.

It was after lunch that teachers first got word to be on alert for severe weather.

Still, at that point, no one knew a twister was heading their way. Simpson continued to go about her business, interviewing a candidate for a pre-kindergarten position, when she noticed heavy thunderstorms roll through.

Simpson ended the interview and noticed parents starting to stream in to pick up their kids. This happens often when it rains heavily, but the principal sensed something abnormal was up as parents rushed in faster and in greater numbers than usual.

“At that point, I made a decision that you didn’t have to check out your child the formal way,” Simpson recalled, saying she stood out front to see who was coming and going.

Some parents were noticeably scared. One father, Simpson said, was “in a panic.” She told him that he had to calm down — so as not to alarm any students — before he went through the hallways to retrieve his child.

This steady stream lasted 5 or 6 minutes before the sirens went off, indicating a tornado on the ground. Simpson got on the intercom and told everyone to do what they’d practiced in all those drills. Then she walked up and down the hallways. (She couldn’t get to where her second and third-graders were, however, as they were in a different building.)

Some teachers tracked the twister on mobile devices, until Simpson asked them to turn them off. She did another walk-through and saw her staffers rubbing the backs of their students, some of whom — with their heads down and hands over their heads — sang.

When the principal got back to the front of the school, the tornado was nearly on top of them. She got on the intercom one more time.

“It’s here.”

Rising from the rubble

Simpson huddled in a bathroom with four other women. “The only time I yelled (I said), ‘In God’s name, go away, go away.’ I said it about four times.”

Debris was still flying when Simpson pushed out the door, stepped over a sink, and noticed “the whole neighborhood was gone.”

Somehow, her phone rang. It was her mother, and she told her to call 911.

There were no more walls left in her school. The bumper of a car sat between the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.

“I could see the kids peeking around what used to be a corner,” Simpson said.

Justin Ayres, a fifth-grade teacher who was the first to spot the twister, was the first one out on one side of what had been the school. Men and women, meanwhile, were running foward to help.

Within minutes, Simpson recalled, the pre-K, kindergarten and first graders were safely out. Her husband soon arrived and put his hand on her shoulder.

“I said, ‘Go help second and third grade,’” referring to those students who were in a different, nearby building. “I haven’t seen any of them yet.”

More and more students emerged, some of them heading to a nearby church. But what had been the second- and third-grade building was precarious, at best.

“I made my way around there, then I begged and pleaded for the human chain to get me up there,” Simpson said. “They did. And they were pulling out students and teachers.”

All seven killed at Plaza Towers died in that rubble.

“The rest of the evening was a nightmare.”

‘They grew up really fast’

Briarwood Elementary Principal Shelley Jaques-McMillin’s first impression of Monday?

“I remember thinking, “Yeah, it’s sunny! So we’re going to be able to go outside.”

School started, as it always does, with what’s called the Grizzly Growl — a time for singing, dancing, celebrating.

“(I remember) the happy faces, how excited they were, just seeing them smile,” said Jaques-McMillin. And there was laughter when a special guest — a sheep — made a special appearance. Staffers had to give it a kiss, because a group of students had reached their reading goal.

Lunchtime that day was especially fun.

“This is what school is about,” Jaques-McMillin remembered saying at the time. “This is why we do what we do. They’re so happy.”

The next few hours went by in a blur — in some ways, much like at Plaza Towers. There were the students and staff doing what they’d practiced in tornado drills — the sirens, and more.

Jaques-McMillin felt stronger, more resolute this time than when the last EF5 tornado — the strongest such classification — came through Moore. When that happened, she was alone and horrified.

This time was different. She had a sense of purpose, beyond simply making sure they survived.

“I have 675 students that I promise their parents every single day, I will protect your kids,” Jaques-McMillin said. “I’ll feed them, they’ll be safe, and I’ll give them back at the end of the day.”

Briarwood Elementary didn’t survive the tornado, but everyone who had been inside did.

They included 4-year-olds and students set to move onto seventh grade, though they were still kids at heart.

Yet on Monday, one of them reached down to a teacher, who was trapped in the rubble with water from a busted pipe blowing in her face.

“He grabbed her hand and said, ‘Calm down, I’m going to dig you out.”

And he did, just a few days after letting loose during a “Glow in the Dark” party.

“Here they were, being silly on Friday night, … dancing, being sixth-graders,” Jaques-McMillin said. “They grew up really fast.”