Sunday, July 15, 2007

Virgina Tech 3 months later

It’s summer in Blacksburg and that means few students and lots of townies. Having been a former townie I was left speechless after the shootings on April 16, 2007 left 32 dead. I realize that shootings like this can happen anywhere but never expected this to happen in Blacksburg.

I visited the drill field in the center of campus and found an intermediate memorial being constructed by some students. Stones are to be placed with the names of all 32 killed (see first two photos). The memorial that immediately followed the shooting was moved into Schultz dinning hall until the end of July (the remainder of the photos).

My mother wanted me to get her a “We Are Virginia Tech” T-shirt, for which the money goes into the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund which set up 34 funds of which 32 are for each victim and one scholarship fund. But it seems that sense exceeding the goal Virginia Tech has stopped producing the T-shirts. The day I drove into town they had named Kenneth R. Feinberg who distributed funds from the 9/11 victims compensation fund to distribute the funds.

Being here now and having discussed the shootings with friends it seems that everyone has a story or knew one of the individuals that died. I just hope that this brings more attention on mental disorders and helping people overcome them.