 "Photo:")
 "Photo:")
April 22, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Kelly Pierce lived in a single dorm room on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall. She woke the morning of April 16 to an unrecognizable noise and fell back to sleep.When she woke later that morning, she learned that her resident adviser and another student had been killed four doors down - the first of two shootings that would leave 33 people dead.
Pierce stayed in a friend's room on the third floor and called her parents and friends while the dorm went on lockdown. She said it was a scary experience.
"So scary," her dad Mark said.
He hadn't heard about the shooting when she called him and had a hard time learning what happened until the news focused on the university.
Around 7:15 a.m., English major Seung-Hui Cho, 23, shot two people in a residence hall. Two hours later he opened fire in a building across campus, killing 30 more before turning the gun on himself.
Pierce's father spent Sunday helping her move to a room in neighboring dorm.
Fourth-floor residents had priority of moving for the last two weeks of school if they wanted.
"The university has been getting a lot of flack, but they've been really supportive," she said. "We were the first people to pick where we wanted to go."
Pierce is moving in with two women who lived across the hall from her and will return to class Monday.
"It feels good being back in the community," she said.
Most of her friends are staying on campus and finishing out the semester.
Brittany Geambardella is waiting until class Monday to see if she will take all of her exams.
Virginia Tech is allowing students to take class on a pass/fail basis or to have only their grades until April 16 count.
The freshman psychology major said she thinks most students will take advantage of the option, but many will probably attend the first days back in class to check their class standings.
Geambardella was carrying some of her belongings from her room on the sixth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall to her parents' van on Sunday. She wasn't moving home yet, but she thought it was a good idea to get ahead of the end-of-semester move.
She and her parents blended in with many other people, most dressed in variations of the school's maroon and orange.
Suitcases, trashcans and office chairs were lugged out to cars amidst other personal belongings
Pierce planned to take all her things home when school ended, so instead of moving everything twice, her dad is taking most of it home now, she said.
"I'm basically gonna live out of my suitcase," she said.
She and her dad made several trips in and out of the dorm carrying clothes, furniture and personal things.
"Dad's a pack mule," Mark Pierce said of himself as he carried armloads of his daughter's stuff to the van.
The shooting doesn't change how he feels about Virginia Tech. He is an alumnus and his other daughter also went there. Virginia Tech is where their family goes to school, he said.
"We're not going to let this destroy what we've built here."
Ashley Gebb can be reached at agebb@theorion.com
--
-
Read more of The Orion's on-location coverage of Virginia Tech:
- Virginia Tech tragedy
Be the first to comment on this article!