Collegiate Times

A roundtable forum will be held Wednesday night to address topics regarding April 16.

Scheduled directly before the one-year anniversary, much of the information to be addressed at the forum will be geared toward freshman and transfer students who were not at Virginia Tech on April 16 of last year.

The forum will tackle a broad spectrum of subjects ranging from personal experiences from the day, feelings toward the media on campus, safety issues and any expectations or worries regarding the upcoming one-year anniversary. Although the forum will mainly be addressed to first year students, all Tech students and the Blacksburg community are invited to come.

"We look at the community roundtable as a steppingstone from the events in April," said Jen Vaziralli, a junior human resource management and marketing major and the SGA director of events. "A lot of people think that this is geared only toward students, but the fact is that April 16 affected everybody in Blacksburg and everybody in the New River Valley and people's families at home. This is an opportunity for us to come back together -- for the first time really -- and reminisce and heal together."

The forum will be held in Squires' Commonwealth Ballroom from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Students will be seated at 10 to 15 person tables, and more than 400 people are expected to attend. Each topic presented will be discussed for an estimated 15 minutes before moving on to another subject.

Vaziralli said that the decision to discuss certain topics rather than just have an open forum for questions was made so that the roundtable would remain focused.

"There will be people and counselors there to answer any questions one might have but it is focused more on discussion topics to help us prepare for the upcoming one-year anniversary and how the students feel about it," Vaziralli said.

Vicki Arbuckle, assistant director of psychiatry at Cook Counseling Center, worked alongside Vaziralli to prepare for the event.

"We wanted to address big topics like the media and safety rather than individual questions about specific things," Arbuckle said. "This was never meant to be individual or group therapy, this was meant to be a roundtable to discuss concerns and issues and share ideas."

In order to plan the event, Vaziralli worked closely with Cook Counseling Center to provide counselors both inside and outside of the event.

There will also be information for anyone interested in learning more about the counseling center or for any further help. Counselors will be available for any distraught attendees who may wish to speak privately.

Arbuckle expects that the exchange of stories and ideas during the roundtable will enable students to feel more empowered about their feelings and about the university in general.

"My hope is that people will find support in being able to share ideas with each other," said Arbuckle. "They might also come up with ideas for the university, in regards to long-term planning. I think it's important to have a voice and to share their thoughts but also to hear other people's voices as well."

Students have reacted positively to the news of the roundtable.

"I think that it sounds like a good idea," Surry Shome said, a junior computer engineering major. "It's good for the students who didn't experience April 16 like we did here. I think it's important to discuss how it was handled and what improvements can be made for something like this in the future"

Kelly deMarrais, a sophomore communication major agreed with Shome.

"It will be really beneficial for freshmen to hear others' experiences and how they were affected," deMarrais said. "It will be a good way to bring people together since they weren't here to experience it."

Vaziralli said that she feels it will be a very emotional event, but also a very positive event.

"I want people to walk away saying, 'Wow, I have a larger, greater Virginia Tech family that is going through the same things that I'm going through, and it's OK to feel this way,'" Vaziralli said. "That's all we can really ask for."