Students and faculty return to class
Alexandra Hemenway, CT News Reporter
April 24 2007
Many students have returned to the Virginia Tech campus after last week's tragedy and participated in Monday morning's balloon memorial ceremony for those that were lost last Monday before returning to classes.
"I really wanted to maintain a kind of normalcy," said sophomore Cinthya Larios. "I wanted to find out more about what options I had as far as what was due."
Many students decided to return to the Virginia Tech community because they found that it was the most comforting place they could be.
"I found that being at home was way harder than being here," Larios said. "When I was with people at home they went through their usual routines, they were sympathetic, but they didn't completely understand what I was feeling because they weren't there when everything happened."
Returning to classes was difficult for many students and faculty alike since the community is still absorbing the tragedy.
"The mood in my second class was really somber," said Katie Collins a freshman Interdisciplinary Studies major.
Understandably, the mood in many of Monday's classes was not normal; in fact, most professors used the time to give students the opportunity to speak about their feelings.
"The mood seemed to be generally somber, but at the same time, it seemed like the students really wanted to be back at the university and in class," said Michelle Pautz, a professor of Political Science.
While many may have assumed that attendance in Monday's classes would have been much lower than usual, many professors found their classes to be fuller than they had been in the past.
"I had no idea what to expect in terms of attendance," Pautz said. "However, I was so thrilled to see the vast majority of my students. I was really worried that my emotions might get the best of me this morning, but seeing all the students really gave me strength."
Steven Daskal a Morality and Justice professor agrees.
"Attendance was exceptionally high today honestly it was higher than most days," he said.
Although students may have been apprehensive about returning to the campus and participating in once-regular activities, they maintain the thought that coming back to school was important to the healing process.
"I came back because I feel it's important that we take back our classrooms," Collins said. "If we didn't return it would just make returning in the fall that much harder, it's important to try to return to normalcy."
Whatever the circumstances, people are returning to the Virginia Tech campus, and with support of one another students and faculty are looking to end the semester as well as possible given the circumstances.
"I think it helps the grieving process to have things to do and some structure to our days," Pautz said. "I think that everyone at Virginia Tech needs to wind up the semester and the year on as positive a note as possible."