Echoes in the Columbine Archive

This letter was written by Columbine teacher Tom Tonelli to his graduating class of 1999 in the months following the April 20 tragedy. It was distributed to his students around summer after graduation. To my knowledge, this particular copy has not been publicly shared before.

Tonelli was the sponsor of a Bible club at Columbine. He also taught Eric Harris in Government/Economics the class in which Harris and Klebold created the Hitmen for Hire video project. Harris reportedly participated actively in class and seemed to have a friendly relationship with the teacher, even referring to him jokingly as “T-Dog.” He also put T-dog in some of his assignments to him, showing the relaxed relationship they had.

In an earlier assignment from written after the van break-in incident in 1998, Harris reflected on the experience and described feeling remorseful and shaken by it/the arrest. Tonelli responded positively to the essay, praising him and writing that he would “trust him in a heartbeat.”

Former students often remembered Tonelli as a particularly supportive teacher. Writing in the Denver Post in May 1999, Columbine senior Sara Martin described “Mr. Tonelli and his overflowing love and support for every single student who walks into his classroom.”