When you go to Tech, it’s in your blood. I think of the kind of camaraderie and the pride -- they call it “hokie pride.” It sounds corny, but it is how proud the students are of their school.
I never imagined that this is the way Virginia Tech would likely go down in history. I know everyone says that about their town: “Not my town, my town is a little town,” or “It would never happen in my neighborhood.”
But Virginia Tech is a place away from the big cities. It is away from the big city problems, away from all of it. It felt insulated. It felt safe. I never felt uncomfortable walking on that campus.
Then to hear what happened at Tech today, at my school. I couldn’t believe it—I still can’t.
-Hoda Kotb, Dateline correspondent and Virginia Tech graduate
I really don't know what else I can add to this, other than to say that the five years I spent in Blacksburg, VA were happy ones. This was where we lived when we started our married life together, where we had our first child, and where I worked as both a teacher and a grad student in the VA Tech Psychology Department.
Blacksburg always struck me as being a little utopia - a place hidden from the rest of the world, tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains, populated mainly by other young adults and professors. We lived very well on very little money, spent lots of time with friends and enjoyed the scenic beauty of the campus and the surrounding wilderness. I missed it terribly when we first moved away, but I had forgotten how much until now.
I am so sad, of course for the victims and their families, but also for my school, a beautiful place that does not deserve this legacy.
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