When students returned to Virginia Tech's picturesque campus in Blacksburg last weekend, their minds were on new classes, catching up with friends, and hopes of regaining a sense of peace and security that was shattered with the deaths of 32 of their friends and teachers last April.
Four months after the shootings that stunned not only the campus but people around the world, the first of what is sure to be many books recounting the events of April 16, 2007 is about to be released, written by a journalism professor and a handful of his students, just in time for classes to begin.
"I was the most hesitant about publishing the book," said Roland Lazenby, a newswriting professor who said he and the six students who wrote the book discussed at length the very real chance that some people will not be happy about their book.
"We are writers. When we want to try to do something about things, we write," he said.
Students were presented with an opportunity many journalism students would dream of, if only in a different circumstance: They were instantly in urgent demand for interviews from CNN, the BBC, national and international media outlets, all eager to know what was going on, who was killed and how they felt that snowy morning. The students had the chance to not only report a major breaking story but to lead the world in disseminating information anyone with a television, radio or Internet connection craved at a moment's notice.
Some students, however, told Lazenby after the commotion passed, that they were so horrified by the professional, paid journalists they encountered they were considering turning in their press passes for a job with fewer vulture-like qualities.
Lazenby said he was impressed with his students, who started taking notes, making phone calls and conducting Internet searches as soon as the school went on lock down. His classroom, where he has taught for the past 17 semesters, is in Shanks Hall, so the students were not in danger of crossing paths with the shooter. However, they did not know that at the time.
CLASS STARTED in a normal fashion, with Lazenby handing out press releases for his students to examine and discuss. Springfield resident Tricia Sangalang, a junior communications manager with a concentration in public relations, started taking notes and interviewing her classmates when the doors were locked.
"The way I figure it, it is best to have this story come from us," she said.
On the cover of the book is a photo of the candlelight vigil that took place on April 17, as the storied Hokie Nation came together in a showing of solidarity with each other and those they had lost. The names of Lazenby, Sangalang and the five other students involved in writing the book are not written on the cover. The only words are "April 16: Virginia Tech Remembers."
Lazenby and his students decided the best way to tell the story was to collect notes and memories of how events unfolded and record those statements in an oral history fashion. Broken into three sections, the book outlines the events of April 16, the reaction of the world and life on campus on April 17 and the week following the shooting, but the largest section is reserved for the memorial tributes to those who were killed.
Sangalang said her first action that morning was to get in touch with a friend who lived in West Ambler Johnson, the dormitory where the first two students were shot.
"I could tell by the sound of her voice no one knew what was going on right away," Sangalang said.
For students already in class, information came from the Internet; from news Web sites, Facebook pages and MySpace entries. When cell phone calls weren't clogging the airways, text messages and calls to and from parents provided a way to contact people outside the Blacksburg bubble.
Gathering the information as it happened, as it became available, was the top priority, Sangalang said. The longer students waited to tell their stories or commit their memories to paper, the more likely something would be forgotten.
Lazenby said he was especially impressed by the work of Sangalang and fellow student Omar Maglalang, who spent time tracking down interviews with chaplains, friends and professors for the book.
"They worked as a team and reported so much during the first few days," he said. "They were the leaders by the virtue of their efforts."
AT THE HEART of the project was the desire for the story of Tech students, teachers and staff to be told by people who were there that day, who had firsthand connections to the school and the town, Sangalang said.
"These were people I knew and I wanted to capture their personality. I wanted something deeper than just she had a nice smile or was funny," she said. "It was a very therapeutic process."
Chantilly resident Laura Massey, one of the students included in the book, said she couldn’t think of one moment where the scope of what happened came into focus.
"I remember sitting next to my roommate when we first heard there were 20 deaths, which is what made it real," she said. "When the names came out, when they played 'Taps' on the Drillfield during the vigil, I'll never forget that."
Massey is the only student involved in the book that was not a staff member of Planet Blacksburg, a student-run Web site that served as the main source of information in the early hours following the shooting. Massey, now a senior, was a staff writer for the Collegiate Times, Tech's newspaper.
Pouring her memories into the book was therapeutic, Massey agreed with Sangalang, as she collected stories about classmates and professors and got to know people who had died.
"People brought up different aspects of the same people that helped me see the full picture," Massey said.
All those involved in writing the book shared the hope that even one person finds some comfort in the book and the memories collected therein. The book will be released on Aug. 28, one week after classes begin and, Sangalang and Massey said, they can begin to make new memories on the campus they love.
"If this helps the victims in any way, it was all worth it," Massey said.
Thomas Fadoul, the lawyer representing the families of the Northern Virginia victims, said he had not been in contact with any of the families regarding the book and did not know their feelings about it.