This is the date most Hokies remember, a day when time stood still for those who love Va Tech. Share your memories of what that day was like for you and any personal losses you suffered that day. For me, it was how Hokie Nation seemed to band together and the pride we had as Hokies. We did not let one shooter define who we are.
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It's one of those days that you will never forget where you were when it happened. I was in 4th period English freshman year of high school.
I'm in London right now wearing my VT gear proudly. So from 4000 miles away, never forget.
I was working at MCV in Richmond. News started to slowly trickle out and then a flood. I knew several students and staff at VT and sent them messages of support but knew hearing back would take some time. The ER and Surgery teams along with the helicopter medics were on standby since no one was sure how high the injury total would go. The response by VT rescue, PD, Blacksburg PD, State Police and every other agency that day was great and first responders around the world have learned a lot from this incident. I can't fathom the emotions people who were on campus that day or knew any of the victims went through or are still feeling today but I know Hokie Nation stands strong behind them.
I was in my Science class in 8th grade in Middle School when I heard about it. I will never forget that day.
My freshman year at VT was the 5th year anniversary and the vigil was one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed.
My entire family pretty much attended Virginia Tech. One grandparent, 2 Aunts, 2 Uncles, both parents, 2 cousins, my sister and I. And any one that has married into my family has become Hokie fans as well. I always knew I wanted to go to Virginia Tech, but after finally making it to Blacksburg during the following football season and seeing everyone together, I knew Blacksburg was where I wanted to be.
I am happy my work schedule is allowing me to make it Blacksburg today for the rest of the weekend. I cannot wait to be on campus again.
Also, one of the best accounts I have read is on the following blog. I read it every year on this date. It is an emotional read, but if you have the time I urge you to read it.
http://www.paintspeckledpawprints.net/2012/04/live-for-32.html?m=1
This was my senior year. I was in shock, in some ways still am. From the fall of my freshman year, Tech had been home more than my hometown ever was. The guys on my hall in AJ were my brothers. Dietrick was my kitchen table. The drillfield was my back yard. This changed everything. First it was the shock that something like this could even happen in my home. Then finding out that I new one of the students killed (he was a good friend of my roommate's). Then getting assaulted by media and well meaning friends and family who just didn't understand that I needed space. All I wanted was space from anyone who wasn't directly affected and to be able to sit in silence and cry with anyone who was there. There was way too little of both.
My emotions were so messed up. I was a wreck at the candle light vigil. I remember laughing to myself when eveyrone was singing amazing grace and then realized no one knew the second verse. Then someone yelled "LET'S GO!" and I broke down crying. As a campus, we just needed something to unite us. Something to show each other that we were together in all this. To this day I start crying when I hear the whole stadium chanting.
And then everyone left. Classes were canceled for the remainder of the year and parents rushed to take their kids away from "there." My hall, normally filled with laughter, the odd video game triggered expletive filled rant, overly loud complaints about the smell, was now eerily silent. There were three of us left. My roommate, who was graduating, but staying at tech. Myself, and our RA. I got the idea the RA didn't want to be there either, but didn't have a choice. I limped towards graduation, not really knowing what to do with myself. The regal in Cburg offered free movies all day so I'd spend 12 hours at a time in the dark trying to do something normal.
It's funny how the little things stick with you. Things you almost feel guilty being upset about. My friends and I had a tradition of running over cassell the night before graduation. Just 5 months earlier I'd played lookout for a friend with a december graduation. There were too many cops on campus when it was supposed to be my turn.
"Oh, you graduated in 2007? So were you there for the shootings?"
The emotional response to this question is a microcosm of the whole experience: the cold numb response that you hope will kill the conversation in its tracks- "I was driving back to town that morning"
"Oh, well did you know anyone who was killed?"
Then the angry response "what the hell are you expecting to get from this conversation?" It brings up memories of how the media invaded your grief just to get ratings.
Then you try to extricate yourself and be alone and process all over again the loss both of the people you knew or knew of and of your home.
I was at work as the news started filtering in...and the rest of that day became a sloppy unfocused mess for me. This past Wednesday 4/13/16 was the second anniversary of losing my son, so these two dates will now forever be intertwined for me.
I urge you all to use the remembrance of this day to tell those closest to you how much you really love them. You never now just how many chances you really have......
Everytime I see you pop up on here with a comment, I always say a short praying hoping each day is better than the day before. Good to see you commenting more on here.
Well I'll blame it on a Monday....
Thanks for thinking of us
- so nice, you had to say it twice?
Oh, and thanks to whichever member put me over 1,000 legs today!
I was a junior in high school. I remember being scared to death that my best friends sister was involved since she was a freshman at tech at the time. She ended up being ok, but my heart broke for the people who went through the horror of waiting for a call from loved ones that never came
I was driving to a job interview. I had the radio on, and as I was flipping channels I caught the tail end of a news report about something at Virginia Tech. I had a buddy who was doing graduate work at VT at the time. I gave him a call but his wife answered. My buddy was in class. She hadn't had the news on yet that morning, so she knew nothing about what was going on. She thought maybe it had something to do with wind damage, because there had been nearly hurricane-force winds in Blacksburg that morning. I said okay, hung up and kept driving.
The interview was in another town, so it was a long drive. A few minutes later I caught a full mews report and found out about the shootings. I called my friend's wife back and told her to find out where he was.
The rest of the drive was surreal, because the number grew with each successive report. Radio doesn't drop everything for breaking news coverage the way TV does, so in between songs it would go from "Seven people have been killed in a shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech..." to "Twelve dead at Virginia Tech... " to "Reports are coming in that there are at least 20 victims in the mass shooting in Blacksburg this morning..." It just kept creeping up, which alone in my car made it feel like I was living through it as it happensed. I don't think the number had been set at 32 by the time I got to the interview.
As for my buddy, he was okay. As it turned out, he had just stepped off the bus in front of Burruss as the shots started to ring out in Norris. He was close enough to hear them.
I was in my micro biology class at Liberty University when I got a text from a friend. I had my laptop open and brought up the news coverage. My professor must have noticed my pale face as I watched in horrible as he came to see what was going on. He stopped lecture immediately and grabbed my laptop plugging it into the large screen in the front of the class. We sat for what seemed like hours watching in horror. A student in my class started praying out loud and many more started to follow. Before I knew it we were all in a huge huddle with about 40 people we barely knew praying, crying, and watching as the events unfolded. I will never forgot that day for the rest of my life.
I was in Italy, and was horrified as the news story started with a news report of a couple of people shot on the VT campus ("did they just say Virginia Tech?"), and continued as a story with progressively higher numbers that were unreal and unbelievable, broadcast as nonstop coverage on CNN International. It was hard to believe it was our sleepy, friendly Blacksburg campus that was at the center of the story.
It was a bit surreal, particularly as it seemed very close and personal for me, while for the people around me in Italy it was tragic, but distant.
I was in 7th grade at the time. Our basement had flooded the night before so I had been up since 3 AM helping my parents clean it out and got to miss school accordingly. I woke up around noon because my mom wanted us to turn on the news as a family friend was supposed to have a segment done about them. Instead we got the first coverage of the shooting. I remember as the number of people shot increased slowly up to like 7. Then they held a press conference where they announced that many more had been shot and around 30 killed and I'll always remember how silent the room felt afterwards. Despite how awful it was I didn't really understand what a big story it would become. I was a tech fan from Virginia and had just been watching local news so I thought it would be confined to our area, but I remember turning on PTI later and the shooting was the lead.
It was my sophomore year and I remember it was snowing. I and my friends had just finished Proffesser Robertsons civil war class and walked into Brodie. One of the guys in our company said he heard gunshots which we laughed off. Soon I heard them to and watched in horror from the dorm window as people jumped for their lives. The rest of the day was a blur of watching the news. I remember hearing about Matthew Laportes death as if I was in a cloud. The rest of the semester was spent on an empty campus. For years afterwards I would snap at people who would ask if I knew who had died or if I knew the shooter. Nine years later it still hasn't faded and I can't think back to that day without tearing up.
During the period of 2006 - 2009, I was an occasional blogger (though I doubt many people ever read it). I just remembered that on 4/16 and in the aftermath, posting to my site was very cathartic for me.
Here's what I wrote the day of:
http://justinsworkingtitle.blogspot.com/2007/04/day-that-will-be-remembe...
And one year later:
http://justinsworkingtitle.blogspot.com/2008/04/one-year-later.html
I guess there's not much more for me to say.
My wife was born in South Korea, one of the horrible things that came out of this was many Korean people felt they would be hated because the shooter was Korean. My wife was doubly devastated, she saw the hurt I was feeling and she mourned that a Korean person had done this terrible thing. We all know mental illness does not know a color or a nationality.
I was a Junior in HS, and like many others, have been a part of the VT family since birth. The immediate years following the tragedy, the candle light vigils at Tech were some of the most emotional times I spent there.
I just wanted to share something that touched me many years after. A few years ago on 4/16, I was in a sandwich shop in DC for lunch and they had a solo musician playing while people ate. As I was standing in line, the first song that he played while I was there was Fields of Gold. For anyone who was able to attend the vigils, you know that this is the song that the student choirs would sing. I got chills and even shed a few tears. Then, I smiled, knowing that somehow, someway, someone knew that I needed to hear that song. Hokies Forever.
I wasn't a student yet, but I had been accepted for transfer from the community college system, my wife was already a VT student, and I was living in Blacksburg already.
I was at work in Amherst (2 hour commute) when we first heard the news. I got a text from my wife early in the day saying that something had happened in her dorm (West AJ) and that they were on lockdown. Soon after, one of the designers (a VT alum) came to my station and asked me if I knew any more about what was going on. Within around half an hour, a lot of the VT staff was clustered around a makeshift news area in the factory office where we were sharing information with one another and watching the actual news. We knew from my wife that something had happened in West AJ, but there wasn't much more coming out and we were all pretty freaked out. I had asked my wife if she wanted me to come home, but she said everything was fine and I wouldn't be able to come see her anyway.
It wasn't long after before we heard the news start to trickle out about the rest of the occurrences. I lost contact with my wife because everyone was trying to call/text at once, and I left the office along with several other employees and made my 2 hour trek back to Blacksburg with the radio serving to keep me updated. I got there later in the afternoon, and campus was chaos. I dropped off my stuff at my apartment (Pack Place) and tried to walk over to her dorm. I was stopped by a reporter, but I don't remember what I said or what she said. I was just in shock. I talked to a guy whose friend had been shot through the arm on my way there, and he was in shock too. Everyone was. It was so quiet.
As I got closer to the dorm, I was stopped by a man with a shotgun pointed in my general direction. I don't remember who he was with, but I don't even remember being surprised. He let me go after a brief interaction, and I finally met up with my wife. We just walked back to my car, loaded up the little she had brought with her, and I drove her back to her parents house.
I still just remember being so confused. It didn't seem real for a couple of days. My wife knew two of the people who had been shot. It was just... it still is. Painful. I still can't talk about it for more than a couple of sentences without tearing up. Of course, I get asked about it frequently when I say I went to VT. Less now, but it still happens.
One thing that really sticks out, aside from all of that, is the community. Everyone coming together. We drove back the next day, and it was as though the entire campus had turned into one big family. Hugs, handshakes, offers of food... that period is what defined for me what it is to be a Hokie. In the face of overwhelming tragedy, the community banded together and provided the support that everyone there needed. I am unbelievably proud to be a Hokie, because being a Hokie means being a part of that family.
I was in Germany that day. It might as well have been Pluto, because that's how far away I felt as I spent all day frantically trying to check in with everyone I knew on campus that day. Longest day ever.
I was just next door, living in Giles. Shocked pretty much summed it up. I remember that although I lived twenty minutes away from campus, I avoided Blacksburg for three months afterward. At first, it was to avoid the media throng and unprecedented attention to the tragedy. Afterward, it was just too hard to face it. I knew one of the first responders, first in at Norris. He heard the shot that ended it. His descriptions of that day took a while for him to be able to relate, but when he did, it was obvious that as tough a cop as he was, his life was forever changed by what he encountered when he helped cut the lock off of that door. His story of that day will forever be burned into my soul, and because it came with a few dollops of fine Scotch whiskey, I'll never taste that spirit again without the memory of that recollection, told sitting in the grass beside a beautiful spring creek. I visited the memorial that following fall and cried like a baby.
Freshman year, VTCC, we just got turned to upperclassmen. I was at the corner of Brodie Hall on the 5th floor and had a line of sight shot towards Norris Hall. I was actually skipping my first class and woke to horrors unfolding before me. Cops running to the building, guns drawn, and medics pulling wounded students out of the building...
I have grown up loving Blacksburg, VT football, anyone that called themselves a Hokie. That day I watched my heaven come crashing down. But honestly the next 48 hours of how our community responded is what really brought me to tears. Students, teachers, friends, family, folks from all over the country came in and came together. It was the best healing you could imagine. That candle light vigil will stay with me forever, the faces of the 32 we lost we stay with me forever, the Hokie pride and since of family will stay with me forever!
Take a moment please, read about those wonderful lives that we lost to soon. That is the part that hurts the most.
Thank you all, you are more than just a college sports fanatic blogging group, you truly are family and if I ever see that awesome key chain or Tshirt from the site I will be the first to buy a round! We are Virginia Tech!!
I was a senior in high school, home sick for the day. Had made my decision to become a hokie. Watched the news all day, and I never second guessed my choice. The community in Blacksburg and the whole hokie nation is a unique and inspiring family. Never forget, let's go!...
I was working on a cattle farm on prices fork. We were branding cattle that morning, and all of a sudden it was non-stop sirens coming up prices fork. I knew something wasn't right but we were dirty and busy working. It wasn't until lunch I found out what had happened. My first emotions were anger! My second emotions were that of sorrow. I went the next night to the candle light vigil on the drill field. Overall I found out what such a strong bond Hokies have. No matter what happens we as Hokies pull together as a tight group to get through something, and I'm not sure another university can say that, which is why I'm so proud to be a Hokie!!
I remember being dismissed from my engineering class in Torgerson early that morning. My professor alluded to something (the early morning shooting in AJ) indicating that something was going on but at the time I had no idea what he was referring to and there were no specifics. As I walked back to Vawter hall I remember seeing three or four cop cars screaming towards McBryde in the opposite direction from what I was headed. When I returned to the third floor of my dorm one of my hall mates was on the phone with his father (who was apparently fairly high up in local government) and he was relaying the situation to us before news broke. I was able to call my dad before the cell networks got jammed up to let him know what was going on. After the news broke I just sat in my room with a friend watching the TV in disbelief. She was hall mates and good friends with Leslie Sherman, whom I had just met the night before. We didn't know at the time but Leslie fell victim to the assault. Of the 32 she was the only one I had ever met. It was really hard on my friend, understandably so. I became sort of numb to it. I wasn't sure how to handle it. It's something that I will never forget. I knew Leslie for a brief passing moment but she was extremely nice, well educated, musically talented, and a true gift to the world. It's a true shame her time was ended prematurely. Hers, along with the other 31 whom I never met. It really puts into perspective just how precious life is. Every year I spend time on the 16th remembering those families who were unnecessarily torn apart. And I feel so sad for the losses. I also take time to be thankful for what I have and to realize that everything in life is temporary and fragile. This date will always keep me grounded. This date will always keep life in perspective for me. I am a Hokie. I am proud of that. But beyond all else, I am thankful for everything I have.
Go Hokies. Hokies prevail. Hokie strong.
well said, brother
I was in Randolph, waiting for my 10:10 class in Norris, which I almost went to instead to wait for class (I had a test run long in my 8:00 class and missed the Hokie express bus to Litton Reeves for my 9:05). When I sit and think about that day it still haunts every part of me (I was watching The Big Short on my flight yesterday and they showed a picture of Virginia State Troopers outside of Norris and I almost lost it right there).
I'm thankful I could call my mom early enough to let her know I was safe. My now wife and I drove to my parents house that night, I was just empty.
I watched the convocation from there and made it back for the vigil. I knew then we'd be okay as a Community, this didn't define us, even if we were still all broken and always will be a little bit.
I'm still so proud how we have responded, from day one,and showed the world what Hokies are and what we are made of!
This incoherent ramble brought to you by jet lag and the need for more coffee.