On the morning of April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced acts of horror so unspeakable and unimaginable that, even now, our minds cannot fully grasp them.
(BLACKSBURG, Va.) - On Wednesday, the Virginia Tech Day of Remembrance will be held in honor of those lost a year ago.
Classes will not be held, but the university will be open. Many departments’ essential services must still be supported. Employees are expected to report as scheduled.
However, departments have been urged to give employees as much flexibility as possible to attend the remembrance events on our campuses. Time spent at those events will count as regular work hours.
The university has scheduled two official remembrance ceremonies, both on the Drillfield. Gov. Tim Kaine and Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger will speak at the University Commemoration, which will also feature the reading of statements about each of the 32 students and faculty members who lost their lives. That event is from 10:30 AM to noon. A student-organized Candlelight Vigil will begin at 8:15 PM. Both ceremonies are rain or shine and will be broadcast on local cable channels 2-4.
Numerous other remembrance-themed events will take place elsewhere on campus throughout the day.
Excerpted from a letter by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger '69:
On the morning of April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced acts of horror so unspeakable and unimaginable that, even now, our minds cannot fully grasp them. The shooting tragedy that occurred has nonetheless irrevocably changed both our university and our nation.
Equally hard to imagine are the depths of profound and limitless sorrow felt by all members of the university community, particularly the families, friends, colleagues, and classmates of those who died here that day. They have lost sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, friends, classmates, and professors in a sudden and senseless act of horrific violence, and they must learn to live with agonizing absences that will never be filled. As a part of the larger Hokie family, we grieve alongside them, our hearts filled with sadness and sympathy.
In the aftermath of such tragedy, it is difficult to determine when it will be time to move ahead and how we will do so. Yet even as I write, I see that our campus sidewalks are crowded with those who have come to mourn and those who are here to learn. Students and faculty are back in their classrooms and their studies are important because teaching and learning are at the heart of this university and will be the foundation of its recovery.
We at Virginia Tech form a special family, one defined not by a single tragic event but by our storied past, a community not frozen in the present but poised to invent our future. The events of April 16 have changed us, to be sure, but they have not--and will not--set us back. Today, we are pressing ahead with a renewed commitment to the university, a deeper understanding of the quality and depth of its character, and a steadfast resolve to excel so that we may honor the memory of those we have lost.
We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech.
The 32 students and faculty members who lost their lives:
Ross A. Alameddine
Christopher James Bishop
Brian R. Bluhm
Ryan Christopher Clark
Austin Michelle Cloyd
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak
Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva
Kevin P. Granata
Matthew Gregory Gwaltney
Caitlin Millar Hammaren
Jeremy Michael Herbstritt
Rachael Elizabeth Hill
Emily Jane Hilscher
Jarrett Lee Lane
Matthew Joseph La Porte
Henry J. Lee
Liviu Librescu
G.V. Loganathan
Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan
Lauren Ashley McCain
Daniel Patrick O’Neil
Juan Ramon Ortiz-Ortiz
Minal Hiralal Panchal
Erin Nicole Peterson
Michael Steven Pohle, Jr.
Julia Kathleen Pryde
Mary Karen Read
Reema Joseph Samaha
Waleed Mohamed Shaalan
Leslie Geraldine Sherman
Maxine Shelly Turner
Nicole Regina White
Video
Virginia Tech Massacre: One Year Later (VIDEO)Salem-News.com