All is calm on the Vintage High School campus these days, and a lot of the credit goes to students who reacted quickly and peacefully in the wake of two days of upheaval in late September.

On Sept. 23 and 24, a Wednesday and Thursday, at least four student fights and a handful of teens resisting police prompted nearly a dozen student suspensions and three arrests.

Order was quickly restored, with students and administrators crediting students who sought to make sure the campus returned to normal.

Hannah Housley, Vintage’s activities director, said the campus’ 40 or so leadership students took the lead in quelling the violence.

Katrina Husted, a Vintage junior and associated student body director of activities, said student leaders dissuaded others from encouraging or even watching the food-throwing or tense encounters. Besides arranging lunchtime activities to keep students busy immediately following the incidents, she said, leadership students also sent out a mass text message Sept. 24, asking teens to wear white in a show of support for a peaceful campus. The following day, dozens of students participated.

Husted said school administrators invited her and another leadership student to a recent staff meeting intended to dispel “a lot of the rumors that even teachers were starting to believe” about the ruckus.

For the most part, the Sept. 23 student fights happened during lunchtime and break, with one student taking a staff golf cart for a joyride as teachers worked to break up an altercation. Administrators beefed up the police presence on campus the following day, when at least a dozen officers — about 10 more than usual — patrolled the grounds. During an especially heated period Thursday, about two dozen Vintage staffers joined police trying to calm students.

 Although the exact cause of the fights remains unclear, Vintage student Stefani Carreto, 15, said boys arguing over a girl started at least one of the fights.

Other student explanations ranged from the fights starting as part of a senior prank to unspecified arguments between cliques.

Shortly after the incidents, Vintage Principal Craig Lewis said the fights were “separate and unrelated” and were not tied to gang affiliations.

Although she described rumors about the severity and cause of the fights as “exaggerated,” Husted said students’ collective anxiety on Wednesday escalated quickly on Thursday in response to the increased police presence. On Friday, administrators reduced the police presence and tensions eased.

“Once the police left, the campus had a whole different feel,” she said.

While appreciative of police efforts to restore peace on campus, Lewis said, in retrospect such a spike in the number of officers might have been “too much.”

Colby Decoteau, Vintage’s freshman vice president, said although the increased campus police presence wasn’t well-received by students, overall administrators handled the situation well.

“With what they had, they did what they could,” he said, adding that the incidents on campus were “blown way out of proportion.”

Jen O’Toole, a Vintage junior and associated student body commissioner of buildings and grounds, said the mood on campus was restored quickly.

“The next week was like nothing really happened,” she said.

Monica Gonzalez, a 15-year-old Vintage freshman, agreed. “It’s actually been pretty calm around here,” she said. “Not much has been happening anymore.”

Ross Walker, Vintage’s sophomore vice president, said he’s unaware of any fights since the late September incidents.

Husted said the whole affair was out of character for Vintage.

“In my years here, I’ve seen one fight and it was outside the girls’ locker room. ... (So) it was kind of like a shock to everyone to see this was happening,” she said.

“Vintage is a safe place for students, and my opinion on that hasn’t changed.”