Va. Tech Students Search for a 'New Normal'

April 22, 2007 — -- On Monday, students at Virginia Tech University will head back to class, one week after Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people on campus before killing himself.

There are only a couple weeks left of the spring semester. But for the people who call the tree-studded, sprawling Virginia Tech campus home, memories of the horrors that happened on April 16 likely will linger forever.

Senior Theresa Walsh's favorite building on campus was Norris Hall. She was in math class there when Cho started his shooting spree. She barricaded the door, and managed to keep him out, despite shots being fired at that door.

Though Walsh is fine physically, she can't shake the sound of bullets or the feeling of panic from her head.

"It's so hard because I think about what happened in that building and that's the hard part is looking at that building, I don't know, that is where everything happened," she said.

Coping On and Off Campus

Walsh's class has been moved to a new building. It's one of the many adjustments ahead for her and thousands of students on campus as they try to return to their routines.

Virginia Tech students were given the option of not coming back at all for the remainder of the spring semester. But for Walsh, going to class again will be part of the healing process.

Every class that meets Monday will have a broad-ranging discussion on the tragedy. The hope is that each student will share memories of the massacre and help the others find ways to cope.

While some students remained at Virginia Tech through the tragedy and its aftermath, others took shelter away from campus.

In Charlotte, N.C., junior Betsy Eichorn spent time with her parents and three brothers before heading back to class.

"I needed to get away from the chaos a little bit," she said. "A least at home you can turn the TV off and reflect."

But even in her hometown, Eichorn remained a part of the Virginia Tech community. She spent last week mourning her classmates and praying for their families. On Sunday, she'll drive back to campus.

"I think everything will be different on Monday," she said. "Seeing everyone will be different, walking on campus will be different. Going to that school is always going to be different, because we always remember the victims and always remember the day very clearly in our heads."

Finding a 'New Normal'

Psychologist Marylene Cloitre said that while returning to a scene of tragedy can be jarring, it is a step forward.

"I think it is important to come back to campus and try to reengage in normal activities so they can appreciate their school as they once did," she said. "Not that it will be the same as it was before, but that they understand their school environment as a place where tragedy happened but also as a place of recovery."

Now, the task at hand is establishing some semblance of normalcy. In an e-mail to Virginia Tech's students, university president Charles Steger wrote, "By working together with the spirit and bond strengthened by this tragedy, we will move forward in a way that will honor the memory of those we have lost."

Though life at the school may have changed forever, students believe their community will get them through to a new sense of what is normal.

"I hope that normal is a step above what we were before," Walsh said.