We are Virginia Tech

I always love for Virginia Tech to be in the limelight, but not in this manner. My beloved school is now associated with massacre, a shooting of giant porportions, a place of grief and sorrow.


But it has also been associated with strength, hope, courage, and commmitment to others in its community. I have never been so proud to be a Hokie.


My email has been flooded with notes from other Hokies and non-Hokies expressing their condolences on the Virginia Tech tragedy, as well as links to videos, songs, and pictures. I thought I would share a few that really impacted me.







I loved this article, It is a very touching perspective. I was there when we had our first game day experience-It was amazing.



By Chris Fowler
ESPN.com
Archive


They are clashing colors, maroon and orange. As they say, it's a combination only a Hokie could love.



But Tuesday, maroon and orange came together in a moving display of sympathy, support and pride. Watching Virginia Tech students in school colors grieve together at the convocation in Cassell Coliseum got me choked up. I couldn't speak. When they concluded the afternoon by together yelling "We Are Virginia Tech!" and "Let's Go Hokies!" I lost it. Surprising feelings rushed forth. Here were students in a basketball arena doing a sports chant. It was such a familiar expression of unity, but this time summoned for an infinitely more profound occasion. The Virginia Tech community has come together to mourn the lives that were lost.


It's a campus I know well, from many visits through the years. You don't arrive at Virginia Tech accidentally. You have to work to get there, journeying into the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's lovely … picturesque … and seems very far away from the dangers of the outside world.


There is a collective strength of spirit there that feels quite different from other campuses we visit. It's a big school, of about 26,000. But it feels like a tight community.


The official name is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It's not a curriculum or a setting for everyone. But most students who are there want to be nowhere else. That spirit seems to endure long after leaving Blacksburg. Once a Hokie, always a Hokie.


All of this made watching the images and hearing the horrific accounts Monday even more chilling. All the networks showed maps marking the buildings the shootings took place. I n between them is the spot "College GameDay" was staged in September, on the mall near the library and the parade ground.


Those of us who work on "GameDay" (and on the entire ESPN college football project) have a strong affection for Virginia Tech that goes back many years. The pain there is unimaginable and will not soon fade. We hope that the sense of unity and togetherness that makes it a special campus will remain.

During the Hokies' run to the championship game in the '99 football season, it was the amazing spirit of Virginia Tech that helped us take "GameDay's" road shows to a level we'd never imagined. At the urging of Frank Beamer, an orange and maroon horde of about 13,000 wedged in to a corner of Lane Stadium one Saturday morning.



For us, it was a mind-boggling display. Sure, we knew they hadn't necessarily shown up to hear three guys on a set many yards away talk football. They came to show the natio n how strongly they felt about their team and their school. And I can't tell you how much it meant to us to share the day with them.



When "GameDay" revisited Blacksburg later that season, we figured that the novelty had worn off and expected a much smaller crowd. Instead, an even bigger, more spirited throng roared for 90 minutes. After that, our little traveling circus was never the same. The ante had been upped for every other school. Virginia Tech set the standard. We really have savored each visit since. “ The pain there is unimaginable and will not soon fade. We hope that the sense of unity and togetherness that makes it a special campus will remain. ”


This week, that powerful sense of community at Tech is being shown to the world. It is heartening.



Unfortunately, much of the world always will associate this campus in the mountains only with this massacre. Many will conclude from this senseless, ps ychotic act that the current college generation in America is warped by violence … and hopeless.



To me, news events of recent weeks have revealed something quite different. It strikes me: The many Tech students I have seen interviewed were so thoughtful and reasonable, even in moments fresh with confused fear. A strong sense of humanity shines through.


In a way, I saw the same sense of dignity and wisdom-beyond-years displayed by the Rutgers women's basketball team and the three former lacrosse players from Duke. Under intense scrutiny, it was the college kids who were level-headed, displaying tolerant, thoughtful restraint and a sense of perspective, while so many adults embarrassed themselves, grandstanding for the voracious 24-hour media machine, foaming at the mouth on cue. Not the students.


It made me feel pretty good about the generation that will inherit this place.



To the community of Virginia Tech and to the families of the victims, our thoughts will remain with you during the long, difficult healing process. Your sense of unity has never been more needed. It was touching that under the weight of so many other emotions, Tech students seemed saddened that the school they love forever could be branded as the site of an historic massacre.



To those of us who have spent time there, Tech always will be recognized for much more than the hours of tragedy April 16, 2007. We look forward to our next chance to experience Virginia Tech pride first hand.



Chris Fowler is the host of ESPN's "College GameDay."

This prayer was shared at the Austin Chapter of VT Alumni vigil last week. I was amazed at the words as though it was written specifially for the occasion. It reminded me of how our need for God is unchanging and how God himself, is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.



From the book"A Community at Prayer", a collection of prayers from the Blacksburg community. This one was the invocation at a memorial service for the class of 1918, given on Homecoming Day 1968 at VT's Memorial Chapel:



O Thou in Whom we have always lived,
And in Whom we hope to live forever;
Who has given us purpose in life As well as life itself;
And who has provided meaning in moments of joy
as well as in moments of sadness:


We first wish to express our gratitude for life itself,
But also for clarity of purpose
And for the experience of love in human relationships.

We are grateful, too, for Virginia Polytechnic Institute;
For its loyal sons and daughters;
For its role in providing leaders for this state and nation;
And for its contribution to the world in times of war and peace.


We are particularly grateful this afternoon
For those who have come and gone,
For those who have entereed their deserved reward to closer fellowship with Thee.
We pray, at this time, that their influence will continue,


That their lives, now immortal,
will continue to make a positive contribution to this institution,
To its significant purpose, And to its own future life.


These prayers we ask in the name of Him who came
that we all might have life and have it more abundantly.
Amen.



From a current VT mom, from here in Austin:
I've only posted a couple of times here, and I believe I mentioned that I am the parent of a sophomore currently at VT. I can't begin to tell you all what a wreck I've been this week. The tidal waves of emotions range from relief that my daughter is OK, to guilt for being upset at all because we are so lucky, to outright gut wrenching despair when I allow myself to go to that awful "what if" place [she lived in West AJ 4th floor last year], and finally I am working up to anger for the shooter. Of course all of that is combined with the overwhelming sadness I feel for the families of the 'fallen' victims. I say 'fallen' because I believe everyone involved with VT was victimized on Monday, but for those families that lost their loved ones--I can't even go there or I'll never finish this.
My daughter, an RA, knew two of the victims who were also RAs. The two meetings that have been held this week to provide the RAs information and support so they could better serve their residents were especially difficult for them all. The weeks ahead and upcoming school year will prove to be a challenge for these kids as they will be asked to venture into places and take on responsibilities most adults don't have to tackle. With that said, I want to say how proud I am of her and the other RAs. I also want to acknowledge the work done by the student EMT's. A resident of my daughter's floor is an EMT and she was called to the first scene. She gave mouth to mouth to the one of the `fallen' victims that morning. My heart goes out to that little girl and her family.

I would like to say that when we've had time to digest some of this and can think without emotion taking over, I believe it will be important that we work together to help the Administration make changes that while I don't believe could ever prevent something like this, could make a difference in the safety of the VT campus. I know that I would like to see video surveillance added to dorm hallways and entrances. I also want to say that if God forbid something like this ever happened again I'd like to see the Administration not allow the media to set up shop on the campus. Many of the kids I've heard from feel victimized all over again every time they find themselves being chased for a comment or have a camera thrown into their faces. I believe a ban of media on campus grounds should go into effect before Monday's return to class, this year's graduation ceremony and the beginning of fall term as well. Finally I want to tell you all that as of today my daughter wouldn't consider attending any other school and we completely support her decision. We also--with facts known to us today--have nothing but support for the school and the handling of this matter. There is no way anyone could have predicted this would have happened and nothing would have stopped him from carrying out his plan. Lockdown? They tried that in August and after an hour of it many kids were outside playing Frisbee on the drill field while the police looked on. Email notification? The kids that did know early on believed that it was just a girlfriend/boyfrien d fight gone bad and the email would have only confirmed that. Kicking the shooter out? Maybe, but nothing would have stopped him from returning. Committing him? He would have gotten out eventually and I believe he would have been just as determined to carry out his plan.
Sorry for the length of this post. As you can see this has stirred up a lot of thoughts and emotions. We will be there Monday night.Thanks for listening & I wish you all well.
Sincerely,
Stacey Harrell
neVer forgeT 4.16.07



Here is a very cool video of the candlelight vigil held on the Drillfield
http://www.hamptonroads.tv/index.cfm?locvid=123520&ch=New!

The outpouring from other schools has been amazing. UT darkened the tower for several nights and held a vigil this past Monday. We have gotten numerous condolences from other Austin Chapter Alumni from various schools. And even UVA painted a prominant bridge with "Hoos for the Hokies" Apparently there was also a picture of a Hoo/Cavelier hugging a Hokie, but I could find it. (For you Texas, it's an A&M/UT relationship.


































I am thankful for the Austin area Hokies for putting together a vigil last week. It was great to be there, to be among others who love the school as I do. It was a great time of laughter and fun memories, as well as a time of prayer for the families of those who have been killed. Even though they are on one hand strangers, on the other they are family.



Please continue to pray. My heart is especially heavy for Campus Crusade, a ministry on campus, who lost four students. Please pray with me for their leaders as they encourage students to turn to the Lord to find peace and comfort. Thanks for taking the time to read all this.

Love, Susan


If you'd like to hear a cool VT tribute song written by a student as you read, click here.

And to leave on a Happy note, here are some future Hokies dressed up for HOKIE HOPE day last Friday. These are my former roomates kiddos (& Joshua).