With the heartbreaking events that took place this week in regards to Virginia Tech, I think it’s safe to say that no one had a real good week. It seems like everyone you talk to knows someone, who knows someone at VT. A fellow Cape Codder, Laura Gonser of Sandwich, is still a proud student attending the close-knit university in Blacksburg, VA, “Nothing will change how much I love this school,” she said.
Laura always knew she wanted to do civil engineering and VT definitely has a good program. She said, “I was blown away with how beautiful our campus is and how friendly the students were.” I can vouch for this. I didn’t know Laura at all, but I read a CC Times article that mentioned her name and I decided to send her a Facebook message asking if she would be interested in answering a few questions for me for the blog. I was expecting no response or a rude one back for being too insensitive. Immediately after sending the message I regretted ever doing it. I was afraid I had just crossed “that” line that I’ve always tried to avoid in journalism.
To my surprise, Laura wrote back right away and was so friendly and helpful. Even during this awful time for her, she took time out of her busy week to thoughtfully respond to several questions I had for her. Without even meeting her, I can tell she is a genuine person and I do not doubt that the entire Hokie community shares this quality.
Laura explained that while she and her friend were walking to their 10:10 AM class in a building behind Norris Hall Monday morning, everyone around her in the drill field just stopped moving. She and her friend had been talking and laughing and did not hear the gunshots, but apparently everyone else had. They saw people running out of Norris Hall and then decided to head back to their residential hall instead of proceeding on to class.
“Most students were still in shock on Monday afternoon, or still looking for friends who were missing. Tuesday most students knew who they had lost,” Laura said. Everyone lost someone. VT lost 33.
Laura explained that she is in an engineering course, Measurements, and one of the two professors and four of the five teacher’s assistants were killed. “That was a hard hit. Dr. Loganathan was an amazing man and I will miss him dearly. I am very thankful though that my TA was the one that is alive today but I mourn the loss of the others,” she said. G.V. Loganathan was 51 and had taught engineering courses at VT for over 25 years. He won many awards for excellence in teaching and was the advisor to about 75 students.
Laura has not lost any pride in her school or the engineering department; in fact, I think she has gained even more. When I asked her if this heartbreaking event has changed her career plans at VT she answered, “There is nothing I want to be more [than a civil engineer]. With all my heart I want to make my professor proud and graduate a civil engineer.”
But outside of her engineering family at VT, Laura also lost some very close friends. One of her closest friends in the corps lost his best friend and roommate, Cadet Matthew La Porte. “I am heartbroken for my friend’s loss, though I did not know Matthew personally,” she said. And another personal friend of Laura’s was Jeremy Herbstritt, a 27-year-old grad student in the civil engineering program as well. “I had only met him once or twice but you instantly loved him. I will never forget the friendship, small though it may have been, we had,” she said.
The days following the incident only seem to get harder. She describes the atmosphere of the university: “Those that were going home left and those left began mourning. Campus is peaceful at points and full of tears at other points. The media is all around so it does not feel like the little town of Blacksburg we all know and love.”
I for one am outraged with the media’s treatment of this situation. The lack of sensitivity and large amount of blame has only made things more difficult for everyone. Laura explained that many of the students are frustrated with the press. “Yesterday when my friends and I were going to mourn at the memorials I had to say at least 10 times that we would just like to be left alone and respected today,” Laura said. Isn’t enough, enough?
In regards to NBC’s broadcasting of and sharing to rival networks Cho’s photos and video footage, Laura said that it was a “horrendous thing to do. I can’t imagine being a mother of someone lost and seeing those images.” I know many people agree with this. Thankfully, the television networks have severely limited the use of those disturbing and frightening images over the past couple of days.
The news has made me fearful, but Laura has made me hopeful…hopeful for those families and friends who have been left behind and hopeful for all the Hokies. She was at the convocation on Tuesday in the overflow seating in Lane Stadium. When asked how it felt to be a Hokie that afternoon as Nikki Giovanni read her inspiring poem and the auditorium began the “Hokie chant,” Laura said, “Being surrounded by Hokies as she read the poem was powerful and uplifting. I will never forget that moment.”
Laura’s parents have been very supportive this week and they wanted her to come home this while she does not have any classes going on. But she explained that as much as she loves her parents, she feels that VT is where she needs to be right now. “I need to be here with my Hokie family.” And later Laura mentioned, “I cannot express in words what it is like to be a Hokie. We are such a united school; the pride we have goes deeper than football and school colors.”
So while it appears the media is trying to focus the country on the killer and the tragedy itself, the Hokie nation knows what is most important right now; staying close and growing closer with each day. Laura has certainly helped me refocus on what matters most and I want to sincerely thank her for this. It’s the people not the tragedy that we need to keep in mind and America’s biggest tragedy yet would be losing sight of that.
