BLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech Hokies united Saturday to honor the 32 lives lost in a campus mass shooting 15 years ago.
It’s a memory defined by pain and thousands of people are still paying their respects to the victims who lost their lives in a tragedy.
A sea of maroon and orange flooded the Virginia Tech campus to fulfill a promise of remembrance.
More than 12,000 people ran 3.2 miles to honor the 32 students and faculty who died in a campus shooting 15 years ago. It’s a dark day that can never be forgotten.
“Honestly, I couldn’t even imagine how life went on after that,” Anthony Crivello, a Virginia Tech junior, said. “I mean it’s tragic in itself.”
Kevin Sandler said as a senior at Virginia Tech he now has a new perspective on the tragedy.
“I was only seven years old when it happened,” he said. “So it didn’t really register in my head until I was older about how all those who were affected by it were the same age as me.”
The Run in Remembrance went virtual the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic. Matt Miele, a sophomore, thought he would have to rely on old videos to see the Hokie Nation rise up in support.
“So seeing all those people that long ago supporting like it is right now. It just means a lot,” he said.
After runners passed the finish line, people gathered at the memorial where 32 Hokie Stones lie in front of Burruss Hall. Sandler has made it a tradition to pay a visit every year.
“Whenever I go through it, I make sure to remember every single name because each of them had a life. And each of them had a life that needed to be remembered and celebrated.”