The one constant in the lives of the characters in Darkness Before Dawn is Hazelwood High School. The institution symbolizes the theme of survival through support. The tragedies and triumphs that the characters face all originate here. Both Rob and Andy were basketball players on the school team before their tragic deaths. Angel and Joyelle are freshmen at the school when each one experiences her own trauma. Angel collapses from anorexia nervosa, and Joyelle crashes a car. Rita is attacked by Jonathan while running on the track team at the school. Keisha would never have met Jonathan at all if his father hadn’t been the principal who offered his son a teaching job there.

The school’s annual calendar of activities provides the backdrop for many of the subsequent events in the novel. A basketball game initiated the story arc related to the deaths of Rob and Andy. The sports program connects Jonathan to Rita. Keisha first becomes attracted to Jonathan in the guise of a wise teacher who helps her understand the arts better. Jonathan plans his seduction of Keisha to coincide with the school’s Valentine Dance.

Just as most trauma in the students’ lives centers around Hazelwood High, so does the support group that will help each one deal with their challenges and rise above them.