april 16, 2012
Time stood still each time Kristina
Anderson heard about another traumatizing school shooting. Anderson, who was injured in her French class in Norris Hall on the morning of April 16, 2007,
feels a little bit of that pain return each time another shooting terrorizes another school. “You were immediately taken back to your own experience even though they might be in Illinois or Finland or Ohio,” Anderson said. “Still, you can immediately relate to what happened, and you’re
kind of in disbelief. At first, I started to feel a little bit of fear again. I felt, again, unsafe and scared
and sadness and grief. It’s almost like you relive the Virginia Tech tragedy every time it happens.”
Five years ago, in America’s most deadly school shooting, Seung-Hui Cho took 32 lives on Virginia Tech’s campus and altered many more. Anderson’s was one of them. As the recovery wore on and the
shock subsided, a group of people bound by grief found solace in each other and in a collective mission — making sure others don’t have to experience their pain. by zach crizer
story continues on pages two & three