So, how did you feel about the tragedy at Virginia Tech?
Well, I mean, it was a
terrible thing that happened, it broke the hearts of all of us
but we came up with this idea to make the poster and um
have everybody in the school sign and then we're gonna send it to them we
thought it'd be a nice gesture for them, something to help
them during this hard time. This affects everybody. It's in
Blacksburg, but as I said before, every school in Virginia has connections
to Tech, so we probably have 60 to 100 students
there now and we know somebody who's there or we
know some students who are going there. You know somebody who's going there so
it just is a tragedy. The person who did this
was obviously not well, mentally unstable, and it just affects everyone. So it's sad
and depressing, but i think one of the good things that has shown is that
the Tech community, the students there who have been interviewed, are fabulous
and they have pulled together and i would be i would be surprised if their
applications didn't go up next year because just looking at
the students who are going to Tech and the kids that are there now, they're
articulate, they're caring people and they have a great concern about their
Tech community so i was impressed with that.
if there's anything good to be said coming from that so it's a good thing
that way well the whole tragedy is just like very
unfortunate for everyone it just makes you worry about things
that could happen in your school and around
your area so you're definitely more precautious
um it's a tragedy and i just they can get through this
and um i know my thoughts and love are with everybody who's over there right
now um i think it's really a horrible thing
that happened and i think that it's really cool that everybody in the school
is really joining together and you can really see
that everybody supports them obviously like most every other person
it made me feel very sad i'm really sad that
this whoever he was couldn't have found some other way to deal with his issues
other than hurting other people um but um you know we we always try to find
some good out of every tragedy and that's what we're trying to do here
with our poster with our banner in which students are signing
we we hope that the students here can can
show uh certainly to the Virginia Tech uh population that uh we really care
about them and and today everyone is a Hokie
I really thought it was just a horrible act that should have really never taken
place um but in the aftermath of it all i think
with everyone coming together especially like our school
and just our community it's really just i think that's all you can do that's all
that anyone can do and you know that's the most important
thing is just that everyone comes together and shows our support for them
yeah so what did you all write on the banner?
I put Hoos for Hokies because I'm going to UVA next year and that
our hearts are all with them so just show my support
i think it's really horrible but it's amazing how close the Virginia Tech
community is coming together well obviously it was a a national
tragedy being that it's in Virginia it's
obviously closer to home for us um i don't feel that the the true effect of
uh has truly been felt yet but um we're dealing each day
i think we'll get a little bit better so do you know what you're going to
write on the banner in the cafeteria yet uh not exactly obviously uh something
Hoos for Hokies uh being a Wahoo but uh like like you see
everywhere around that uh truly today and and for the future we're
all gonna be Hokies i think it's horrible it's not
really something you can put into words because it's so like sad and sudden
so it's really bad not something it's good to think about
right um but i feel like the thing we're doing in the cafeteria with the big um
poster and everyone signing it is like a really good idea
it's it's um i feel like a lot of people can put what
they think or like just you can see how many people are like
influenced by that uh have you all written on the poster in there we did
what did you all say i said that we're thinking of you and i put a heart and
then i sign my name it's it's just good to like let them
know that everybody is thinking about them
everywhere so even if they don't know you
i said stay strong it was really upsetting and you know it's terrible
that somebody would do that stuff to like anybody
nobody wants to die nobody wants nobody's going to see but people get
killed and stuff that's horrible it was really bad um i thought it was
really sad because a lot of people lost family members and
friends and it was really depressing so what did you all write
on the banner i wrote my thoughts and prayers with you you know we're never
going to forget what happened on that day
i wrote that i love Hokies and it'll get better
and it's all good i wrote that Virginia Tech was in my thoughts so
yeah it's like really sad that somebody will actually do that
and it's really close to home and we have a lot of students that go
to Virginia Tech or want to go to Virginia Tech and it's kind of sad to
know that people are out there that'll actually do
something like this to you know harm people that we actually know
i know other families are out there they're kind of struggling and uh
you know it's kind of a hard time for everybody because it's affected like
everybody across the world i just thought that was a horrible thing
that happened and i was kind of confused i want somebody to do that
but i don't know and i wrote that my thoughts go out to all the people who
lost loved ones and just really sorry that happened
we're all thinking about them praying for them hoping they'll get
through this and just hoping they'll stay strong
this is just a devastating situation for all the kids and families at Tech
I have a nephew that graduated in '05 so it hits home a little bit
and I'm also a parent of a college student at Ferrum University so
as a parent it's just hard to explain how we feel that we're always looking
out for our kids and my heart goes out obviously to the families and the
parents of the children that passed
this is a very nice gesture on our part the least we could do for the Tech
family and hopefully everybody will learn something
from this and go away in a positive aspect
somehow someway i thought it was pretty senseless and the guy was sick and
i feel horrible for the people there and it was i feel so horrible for them
so Rachel what do you think about the tragedy at Virginia Tech? I thought it
was really bad and really sad that someone just
because they're lonely kills all those people
So have you written anything on the banner? Yeah I just wrote it um I said
we're thinking of you and praying for you
and just keep on going go Hokies it's unreal
i don't know what else to say have you all written on the banner
yes we did what have you all wrote um i just wrote
that um all the hokies are in my prayers and stuff and i
wrote a little hello it's my brother alden
i wrote my thoughts are with you i wrote that
everyone is praying for people at Virginia Tech and that they're all in
our thoughts and that they're not alone and everyone in the
nation is thinking about them.
[Music: Enter Sandman by Metallica]