April 17, 2007

I remember the day so clearly. It was the Fall semester of my senior year at Virginia Tech. I woke up with a jolt as the phone rang too close to my ear. It was my twin sister calling from Northern Arizona where she was a third-year student:

"Don't go to class today" - panic was in her voice.

"Dad just called. He said planes are hitting buildings on the East Coast. Don't go anywhere."

My mind reeled as the weight of her words sunk in. I looked at the clock. Golden sun streamed through my bedroom window. It was around 7:00 AM in the Southwest. What on earth was Liz talking about?

From thousands of miles away, Liz gave me a scrambled account of the events of that beautiful September morning. To ease her alarm, I assured her that although Virginia Tech seemed close to DC and NY in comparison to AZ, we were actually rather far away from the action. The calm in my voice masked the sick feeling forming in my stomach.

After hanging up the phone, my day unfolded like many other Virginia Tech students' days. I wandered into my living room to find my two roommates staring glass-eyed at the television. I didn't even make it to the couch. I just quietly sat down on the floor and watched the horror unfold.

News spread quickly on this high-tech campus. Virginia Tech was one of the first universities in the nation to require all students to own a personal computer. I remember the day I received my very first private e-mail account - vt.edu. I felt so grown up.

On September 11th, 2001 fingers flew over Instant Messenger as students expressed a range of emotions - shock, fear, sickness, sadness. E-mails flew into Inboxes as a quick means of reaching everyone on campus instantaneously. I remember IM-ing my best buddy Mike, stopping him in his tracks before he headed for what he thought would be another routine day of class in the Computer Science department.

The usually vibrant, fun-loving campus froze as the normal events of the day were canceled and the reality of a national tragedy spread to every corner of Blacksburg, VA. I chalked up that day as the worst day of my entire college career.

Now, just a few years later, Virginia Tech students experience horror all over again. Except this time, the terror is close to home. It is home.

Worst School Shooting in U.S. History

April 16th, 2007.

If you caught a glimpse of any form of media yesterday, you probably saw the shaky scenes of green lawns and towering stone buildings caught on a student's cell phone. The Virginia Tech campus, normally populated by students rushing across the sprawling drill field to make it to class on time, looked eerily quiet. As footage progressed, surreal images of bloody, injured students against the rolling green and gray jarred your senses.

As clip after clip flashed across the screen, names familiar to alumni rang out: "West A-J, Montgomery Regional Hospital, Norris Hall, drill field..."

Can this be happening? Virginia Tech has always been so safe...