Collegiate Times

Monday was the first day of classes for many students since the tragedy that occurred on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16.

For Lydia Lambert, a junior in biological sciences, going to classes after the incident was for the purpose of showing “support for the teachers and the classes.” Today, however, Lambert believes that “everyone just kind of wants to go back to normalcy.”

Nicole Huret, a senior studying mathematics, also feels this way.

Coming back to classes, she said, “I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I needed to do it.” Having completed her first class by midday with two more to go, Huret said that her first class was “pretty normal, and kind of nice.”

“My teacher mentioned April 16, but because the class was really easy, it made it more comforting and not strange; a good first class to have,” she said.

Huret’s friend, Anne Sizemore, an accounting and information systems major, disagrees with Huret.

“It was kind of weird, going to class in general. I was worried it would be normal, and it was. Nothing was mentioned or said, it was kind of strange,” she said.

That is one of the tasks instructors were facing Monday; whether or not to discuss the events of last April with classes. Some students expect it, while others prefer not to think about it.

On the other hand, Sizemore said that she is glad that she knows she will not be reminded every day and every class of the events.
 “It’s just hard to hear about it repetitively,” she said.

Matt Giglio, a public speaking and communication skills instructor, taught his summer session classes Monday morning. He thought about how they would handle classes prior to Monday, and decided that he would let the classes dictate the mood.

Giglio’s first class set the mood that nothing needed to be addressed that day, because it is just difficult enough for students to return to something normal.

However, as most students will not be returning until the fall, instructors need to think ahead for those classes.

“The freshmen coming in obviously know what’s happened, but they’re also coming into the Hokie culture. We can acknowledge it, but we shouldn’t let it define us,” Giglio said.