Collegiate Times

Six months after a gunman left the Virginia Tech campus shocked and speechless, Tech still remembers the lives that were lost and the events that transpired that day.

Six months and a day ago things were a lot different at Tech than they are today. Few of us haven't replayed the evening of April 15 over and over again in our heads. We were different then. We were selfish then. Things that didn't really matter seemed to matter all too much.

That big econ test the next day, the seven-page paper we hadn't even started, consumed the minds of us all. We quickly learned how beautiful that day really was, without any worries. On Sunday evening, we were jovial, and though weighed down by the pressures of looming final assignments, we were happy.

Six months later, none of us fully possess that same sense of happiness taken for granted that cold Sunday evening. An innocence and a sense of tranquility was stripped from us on that Monday morning. Families lost sons, daughters, and parents. Tech lost gifted professors and students, and we lost friends; friends who had become family.

Every little conversation, every simple moment within that 48-hour period is forever branded in our minds and will be carried with us for the rest of our lives. And while that is a burden to bear, we are all more than willing to carry it.

We are the people who were at Tech in its darkest hour. We are the people who fearfully watched ambulances transport our fellow classmates from Norris Hall. We are the people who had classes nearby and helplessly sat and waited. Some of us lost friends, some of us lost professors, but all of us lost that sense of peace.

In the immediate aftermath of that day's events, Tech received an outpouring of support from concerned universities, families and individuals all over the world. We will always be indebted to the good will and sincerest offerings of support shown to us in our time of need.

It still doesn't feel like it has been six months, and even years from now will probably not feel like years. For those of us here, the events of April 16 will never really be more than six months in the past.

Even though the outward signs have faded, very few of us have gone a day without thinking of that Monday. Looking back, it almost seems more like one long, drawn-out moment than a series of weeks spent attempting to come to terms with what happened. The following weeks were rather a continuous stretch of events; days and nights did not exist.

We all still think about that moment, struggle with that moment, and bear the burden of acknowledging that moment, every day of our lives. Those not associated with Tech still hear our name and think back to what happened.

While Tech is so much more than that one moment, it is a part of who we are. We are all stronger and better because of it. We would like to think we're no longer as selfish, and certainly ready to willingly carry the memories of those we lost on that day with us forever.

We have started to move on, but we will never, ever forget.