<p>I'm glad you're okay, Shoebox10.</p>
<p>Shoebox10:
We are relieved and thankful to know that you are okay. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family, as well as all those others whose lives have been forever changed by this senseless and devastating tragedy.</p>
<p>This is the speech given by W&M’s president, Gene Nichol, about the tragedy at Tech:</p>
<p>“Truly it is in darkness that one finds the light.”</p>
<p>I am reluctant to add words—cheapened words—to touch the unspeakable tragedy that strikes our brothers and sisters in Blacksburg this day. All other questions pale when compared to the killing of innocent women and men—young and old—daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, lovers and friends, students and teachers, colleagues and competitors—born in hope, tempered by challenge, clothed in faith, anxious for a future yet unrevealed, now unrevealable—children of God, who more than any other thing, were loved and needed by others of God’s children. Fallen in violence and terror. Gone too soon. Gone brutally. Violence that in your young lives you have seen too much. Almost as if the shocking thing, the thing never to be anticipated, never to be borne, is expected. The thing never to be contemplated is foreseen. In New York, in Washington, in Pennsylvania, and now in Blacksburg; in our Commonwealth, amongst our family, in our home. </p>
<p>Aeschylus wrote that “In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, from the awful grace of God.” </p>
<p>No easy lesson joins this day. For our brothers at Virginia Tech, for our community at this College, for young women and men, filled with hope, and failing to approach, much less to comprehend, the injustice and the horror of such acts. No lesson except, perhaps, our faith, as Dr. King wrote, that “unearned suffering is redemptive.” As we believe—that love, not hate, is the strongest power on earth. That as the ancient Greeks claimed, we are charged “to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” And that “they who mourn are blessed, for they shall be comforted.” For they shall be comforted. For we shall offer comfort.</p>
<p>No lesson except that life, and each precious moment of it, is to be treasured. That we should hold tight to one another, hold fast to our dreams. That the world we inherit needs much. But nothing so much as our love, and commitment, to make steady the way before us; to lighten and enrich the lives of our fellows. To live each day as if its grace and its beauty were a gift—a gift to mark our souls, to open our eyes, to lift and to soothe our hearts. A gift to be received and, when received, regiven. To push back against hatred and violence, and their more subtle companions—companions that tear at the fabric of our common lives, on this small planet. That deny the sanctity of human existence. That cast aside the treasure and the dignity of what we rightly claim as our own. Recognizing that we are bound to one another—as the poet says—all men and women, in sister- and brotherhood, that we are bound and we are bound.</p>
<p>I ask you, as I know you will, to reach out to your brothers and sisters in Blacksburg, and in Williamsburg, and at the destinations that will soon unfold before you. Living each day with hope—hope not as a mere description of the world around you, or as a prediction of the future, but hope as Vaclav Havel described it—a predisposition of the spirit, a habit of the heart. A conscious choice to live in the belief that we can make a difference in the quality of our shared lives. The nobler of hypotheses. Honoring those unjustly taken. Casting our lot on the side of beauty and grace and forgiveness and courage and commitment and selflessness and hope, and, finally, love.</p>
<p>For those following along with my difficult times, I once again thank you so much. Everyday I wake up with the troubled thoughts of what is going on and it hurts so deeply, its unbelivable. They say you'll never understand great pain until something like this happens, and now, words can't even describe. I can't imagine what it's like for immediate family, longtime friends, or roommates of those lost. It is one of the most troubling times of ones life when something like the college atmosphere, a setting characterized by fun times, friends, parties, and hard work that ends in successful terms, is torn apart.</p>
<p>VT has provided students with info about the end of the semester plans, as follows:
The Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students are overwhelmed and saddened by recent tragic events. The faculty are concerned for the education of our students, as well as their physical and mental well-being. We realize that various students will react differently to these events. Because of this Virginia Tech will offer students a number of ways to complete the Spring 2007 semester. This procedure is in effect for all sites and locations where Virginia Tech classes are being taught.</p>
<p>Classes will resume on Monday, April 23, 2007. The first day of class will involve broad ranging discussion of these events from various perspectives. There will also be discussion of the options, which are available to students concerning their completion of the semester. Information about the options will also be made available online. Classes will be continued with the elimination of one week of work. Students will have the option of requesting, on a course by course basis, that the semester grade be based on the faculty evaluation of:</p>
<pre><code>* Materials which have already been submitted for grade prior to April 16, or
* The already submitted material plus any other assigned material which the student wishes to submit for grade, or
* The material that would have been submitted for grade upon regular completion of the course.
</code></pre>
<p>Implementation of this procedure will be accomplished in a manner consistent with university academic policy. Existing policies related to other academic issues remain in effect. Flexibility and attention to the needs of the students is a high priority. The deans fully support the implementation and will be supported by the Office of the Provost.</p>
<p>In support of their emotional well-being, it is recommended that students continue to participate in class activities as part of the Virginia Tech community. We encourage students to continue to take advantage of all learning opportunities. Students will be permitted to defer a decision on which option to exercise until the last day of classes. The Course Withdrawal Policy is also extended until the last day of classes. The options for completing course work allow for students to remove themselves from the campus for all or part of the remainder of the semester without penalty to their course completion, or academic eligibility.</p>
<p>The university has decided that those students whose lives were taken will be awarded posthumously the academic degree for which they were enrolled effective Spring 2007. These degrees will be awarded during the college, graduate school, or departmental commencement exercises, where such degrees are usually awarded.</p>
<p>Questions regarding implementation of the procedures as outlined should be directed to the academic associate dean of the college in which the student is enrolled.</p>
<p>Mark G. McNamee
University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs</p>
<p>I know I will most likely chose to take the grade I have in three engineering classes simply because I am too shaken. For the others, multi-variable calculus, physics, and linear algebra, I am in a horrible position about what to do. First, there is material that I have to know for future classes, but at the same time, I have no energy to study or do work at this moment, and I'm sure upon my arrival back to campus I will be overwhelmed once agian. Yet at the same time, I was counting on the rest of the semester's work to recieve good grades.
Any suggestions would be very benificial, especially about how to approach teachers in this very difficult time.
Thank you, once again, from the bottem of my heart.</p>
<p>shoebox10, I sent you a private message. I hope it helps.</p>
<p>I've decided to end two classes where they are right now, since I have As anyways. The elimination of the two classes will give me enough boost to try to deal with the other classes. As long as I can guarentee the A in the classes, they're over. I know it sounds sort of weak to not continue on and take the finals, but one class is a Java class and I have a 94 average on my tests, 100s on the labs, perfect attendance, and an 80 average on the homeworks, so I deserve the A. As for the other class, its the class I was supposed to be in and I just can't go back.
For physics and multivariable, I'm just going to have to wait until those teachers decide what to do for our options. I'll find out more either later this weekend or Monday/Tuesday. I might have to take Cs in both, but the world will understand. if they don't, they do not deserve my time.
My last class, Linear Algebra, its an online course, so i'm going to atleast take the last exam, and possibly the final, but frankly, i don't think i'll have the mental stamina to take the final. i'll probably end up with a B+, but at this point, it's the least of my problems.</p>
<p>Like I said, i'll try to keep this thread updated with VT life and my schoolwork. If any of you have questions about all that is going on, don't hesitate to use this to ask. Once again, thank you, to everyone.</p>
<p>edit: I just recieved an email from my Linear Algebra instructor. He's decided to give everyone 100s on the last two scheduled quizzes since we missed one and the next one is due at the end of this week and they can only be taken in the Emporium. He's also decided to drop the lowest of the three tests taken so far since the final would have replaced the lowest grade anyways. Thus, I have a 97% in the class, so i'm going to take the A and concentrate on the other classes.</p>