Collegiate Times

The University Steering Committee for this year's Day of Remembrance recently released a list of events scheduled for April 16.

An activity new to this year is a 5K Run in Remembrance. The run will take place on campus, and participants will soon be able to register online.

The Steering Committee decided to replicate events from 2008's April 16 Day of Remembrance.

As last year, memorial events will begin at 12:01 a.m Thursday morning with the lighting of a ceremonial candle at the April 16 Memorial on the Drillfield. The candle will burn until 11:59 p.m.

Additionally, the university will commemorate victims and survivors at noon on the Drillfield. Similar to 2008, the 32 students and faculty members killed will be recognized individually.

The day will conclude at sundown with a candlelight vigil on the Drillfield.

The Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention hopes to open its doors inside Norris Hall by April 16. The Center currently resides in Wallace Hall, but renovations to the second floor of Norris should be finished in time for the second-year anniversary.

Jerzy Nowak, director of the center, said plans include an open house, which will first be limited to victims and families and later available to the public.

Additionally, Students for Non Violence will host a breakfast for families of the victims in the Hahn Horticulture Garden.

Activities across campus will allow students to individualize their remembrance. Last year included an exhibit in the Perspective Gallery within Squires Student Center and a Remembrance through Dance performance by the Contemporary Dance Ensemble of Virginia Tech. Debbie Day, of the Office of Recovery and Support and a member of the Steering Committee, said that there would be similar acts and exhibits, but the plans aren't yet concrete.

A Remembrance Through Dance will take place again this year on April 16 in Burruss Hall Auditorium.

The Steering Committee passed on the specific financial and location planning to an implementation team.

"There's someone from parking, someone from police, someone from transportation, someone from UUSA. It's that kind of planning, people that can make the things happen on campus, can reserve the space, get things staffed and things like that," Day said.

The team of about 20 members will meet on a weekly basis up until April 16.

"The implementation team kind of has its marching orders from the Steering Team and we'll be figuring out exactly how to get the information out," said Mark Owczarski, university spokesman and a member of the implementation team.Day said a "large student contingent" is present because "part of the exercise is to have student involvement." Members of the Student Government Association, the Residence Hall Federation and others will organize student-run events, such as the 5K.

If an organization or department wants to set up an event for the Day of Remembrance, it should contact the Office of Recovery and Support, Day said.

"They will help work it into the fold of other events," Owczarski said. "The key is wanting to make sure that nothing conflicts schedule-wise and that everyone is on the same page and tone" of the day.

As events are finalized they will be available at www.weremember.vt.edu.