Blacksburg, Va. – Representing America’s anguish, President Bush told Virginia Tech students and teachers at a somber convocation Tuesday that the nation was praying for them and that “there’s a power in these prayers.”
“It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering,” Bush said at a memorial service on the campus where 33 people, including the gunman, died in shootings the day before. “Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they’re gone – and they leave behind grieving families and grieving classmates and a grieving nation.”
Before flying to the university in southwestern Virginia, Bush ordered flags flown at half staff and issued a written proclamation in honor of those killed and wounded.
The convocation drew thousands, with lines forming at least two hours in advance and extending back for blocks.
When the basketball arena reached capacity, thousands were turned away at the doors. They kept walking, pouring into the adjacent Lane Stadium, where Hokies usually cheer along the football team. People filled the entire field, sitting on yellowed turf from end zone to end zone.
Crowds also filled up parts of the glassed VIP section and outdoor bleachers around the stadium, showing a sea of orange and maroon. But unlike a game day or a graduation, it was silent except for the sound of the wind. Then the convocation began, shown on the screen of the scoreboard with sound echoing off the walls. Sometimes the sound system failed, leaving the stadium completely hushed.
“I figured everybody would be here, to get over it or get past it,” said Chris Everett, 21, a senior from Maryland on why he came. “It’s really weird to be the center of attention of the whole country, especially for something like this.”
“This is home, this is where I’m supposed to be,” said Laura Bostic, 21, from Newport News, Va.
At the start of the convocation, Virginia Tech president Charles Steger received a 30-second standing ovation, despite the criticism of the school administration initial response to the shootings.
At the end, professor and poet Nikki Giovanni stirred her listeners’ spirits with a poem.
“We are sad today and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall fearlessly, we are brave enough to bend and cry, and sad enough to know we must laugh again,” Giovanni told the audience. “We will prevail! We will prevail! We will prevail! We are Virginia Tech!” Giovanni said, to thunderous applause.
Those in the arena rose to their feet. They cheered and clapped, and then a chant started. At first out of sync, the voices grew bold and united. It was a football chant from better days. They raised fists in the air. The first smiles of the ceremony appeared.
After the football stadium cleared out, a group of about two dozen gathered in a circle, kneeling and heads bowed in a prayer circle near one end zone.
As darkness fell Tuesday, thousands of students, faculty and area residents again poured into the center of campus to grieve together. They held thousands of candles aloft as speakers urged them to find solace in one another.
Most of the vigil was devoted to silence and quiet reflection.
As the silence spread across the grassy bowl of the drill field, a pair of trumpets began to play taps. A few in the crowd began to sing “Amazing Grace.”
“We will move on from this. But it will take the strength of each other to do that,” said Zenobia Hikes, vice president for student affairs. “We want the world to know we are Virginia Tech, we will recover, we will survive with your prayers.”
McClatchy Newspapers contributed to this report.
