Spring Break
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News
A 'somber' campus deals with emotional aftermath
Jason Schwartz
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And though the student body largely remained in shock, there is still no doubt that things are different.
"For the first time ever here, I walked outside and the darkness actually scared me," sophomore Mike Woods said of the evening after the shootings.
Woods was walking out of his dorm for class on Monday morning when his girlfriend called. Screaming into the phone, she said, "I hear gunshots; there's SWAT teams on the Drill Field; what's going on?"
Woods rushed to the Drill Field - just in front of Norris Hall, where the majority of shooting occurred - and grabbed his girlfriend before returning to his dorm.
"Right now, everybody's still in shock," Woods said. "It doesn't even seem like anybody's accepted that this happened."
Despite having 26,000 students, Virginia Tech maintains a tight-knit community, and students say hardly anyone did not know somebody who was directly affected by the tragedy.
"You're going to know someone, either by them being in one of your classes or through a friend or something," said junior Hope Hudock, standing on Drill Field in front of a memorial signing board in the shape of a Virginia Tech logo. "It's going to hit everyone once all the names [of the dead] come out."
With that list of names trickling in, students remained on edge waiting for news of friends, classmates and professors. Cell phone lines were down for most of Monday and parts of yesterday, making communication difficult.
As of midday yesterday, freshman Andrew Stephens still was unsure if all his friends were alright.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
MrSandman
posted 4/18/07 @ 9:34 AM EST
You sent a reporter and a photographer down to Virginia for this? That's impressive. Good job, you two. This article provided a perspective on the level of the VT students that the major media outlets haven't been able to capture as well. (Continued…)
ConcernedAlum
posted 4/18/07 @ 4:04 PM EST
I graduated from Penn a few years ago. While enrolled there, I was stalked by a fellow student -a student who had been accused of stalking by other women on campus. (Continued…)
kb
posted 4/19/07 @ 1:08 AM EST
Anonymous,
What's your stalker's name? For the sake of other students on campus I think you should let us know.
chris
posted 4/20/07 @ 1:00 AM EST
Did you really send reporters there? You need to realize that people read the DP to find out about local and Penn events that are too small for other outlets to cover, not stuff like this. (Continued…)
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