Guest Post: April 16th Memoir

phrits’s son, Rick Knack, will graduate from Virginia Tech next month. His college days there started the August after the tragedy of April 16th.

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When did you first know you were a Hokie? Was it when you got your acceptance letter to Tech? Maybe it was right after your parents dropped you off at your dorm, or your first football game. I was lucky enough to have burnt orange and Chicago maroon infused with my blood at birth. My parents met at Blacksburg High School, my grandparents still live in town, and I have been going to Tech football games since I was four years old. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, but Blacksburg has always been “home.” It wasn’t until I actually got to Tech, however, that I really began to understand what it means to be a part of this community.

I, like most of you, was not on campus for the tragic events of April 16th. I was a senior in high school, a mere two months from graduating. I had already sent in my acceptance and deposit, and was counting down the days until I actually got to move into my dorm. I first heard about the shootings when my teacher had the news on after lunch. At that point, all I knew was two students had been killed in a dorm room on campus. By the time I got home from school, it was the largest killing spree at a school in U.S. history.

My cousin, my girlfriend’s sister, and her husband were all students at the time, and thankfully we were lucky enough to hear that all of them were safe soon after the incidents. When I got home from school that day, my mother was sick to her stomach. She couldn’t watch the news anymore. How could such a terrible thing happen in the safest place we knew of? The next morning, I came downstairs wearing a Virginia Tech t-shirt. My mom stopped me and said, “Are you sure you want to wear that shirt today?” I responded almost instantly, “Mom, I have to show my support.” She went back upstairs and changed into a Tech shirt herself.

When I first got to Tech, I tried out for the Marching Virginians. The decision to do so turned out to be one of the best of my life. After a grueling band camp, I was one of the lucky few rookies to make the clarinet section. The first performance the Marching Virginians had of the fall 2007 season was the dedication of the April 16th memorial, just a couple days after meeting the people in my section. The MVs prepared an arrangement of Amazing Grace in memory of the 32 to play at the dedication. It was incredibly difficult to fight back the tears as I played that day. By the time we finished playing, everyone was crying. I was afraid that as an incoming freshman that was not here on April 16th, I would not be accepted as part of the grieving community. As I cried and hugged virtual strangers that day, despite all of the pain, I knew that I was home.

I will never forget my first football game in the Marching Virginians. Virginia Tech vs. ECU, September 1st 2007. College Gameday and my first march to the stadium were incredible, but they pale in comparison to the pregame performance. The Marching Virginians, cheerleaders, High Techs, Highty-Tighties, and the entire Corps of Cadets took the field with 32 massive orange balloons. Tony Distler’s smooth voice came across the loudspeaker and asked the stadium for a moment of silence. The most deafening silence overtook Lane Stadium as the capacity crowd of 66,233 held its collective breath. Following the moment of silence, we again played our arrangement of Amazing Grace while I tried not to break down into complete sobs, and the 32 balloons were released into the sky. The MVs then made a tunnel for the football players to run through as Enter Sandman reverberated throughout the stadium for the first time of the season, and the healing process began.

Throughout my four years at Virginia Tech I have met hundreds of interesting people, but two people have had a profound effect on me and I never had the fortune of knowing them. Ryan “Stack” Clark was the resident advisor in Ambler-Johnston hall and one of the first students to be killed that day. He was a biology, psychology, and English major with a 4.0 gpa. Stack was also a member of the baritone section in the Marching Virginians. It is impossible to be part of the Spirit of Tech and not see the impact Ryan had on the band. His dedication to service helped propel the band into many of the service projects the MVs have participated in during my time here. The Marching Virginians have collected cans for Hokies for the Hungry, built a house for a needy family in the New River Valley, led blood drives, collected prom dresses for girls too poor to afford them, and raised money to help fight Lou Gehrig’s disease, just to name a few. We even granted a wish through the Make-a-Wish Foundation when a boy wanted to play in the Marching Virginians. He got to lead the march into the stadium and play in the drum line during the game.

The most memorable community service act the Marching Virginians helped with was when we played at Stack’s high school. Just before the Alabama game in Atlanta in 2009, the Marching Virginians made a side trip to Lakeview High School in Augusta, Georgia. Ten charter buses full of band kids pulled up to the tiny high school stadium as fans, students, and parents wearing Tech’s maroon and orange, Lakeview’s black and red, and the opposition’s black and gold waved enthusiastically. The sound of 330 strong was awe-inspiring to the jam-packed high school stadium. We were like rock-stars to those fans. A middle school-aged girl asked me for an autograph. I realized then that although Stack had not attended that school in over 7 years, his impact was still felt.

The other victim of the April 16th massacre that affected me most was Mary Read. Unlike Stack, Mary’s career at Virginia Tech was just starting. She was a freshman Interdisciplinary Studies major in CRU and concert band. I first started becoming familiar with Mary and her story through a friend I met in the band. My friend is one of the most wonderful people I know. She is sweet, smart, caring, and loves children. She transferred to Tech as a sophomore, but we both started our time here in the fall of 2007. My friend and I became very close during my freshman year. She told me something about her that would always affect her life. She had grown up with Mary. They were best friends. Every year around April 16th and Mary’s birthday, I see the outward signs of distress in my friend, but I know it’s something that she thinks about every day. It’s a burden she will always carry and few can understand. I never knew Mary, but I see and feel the warmth, caring, and compassion she possessed reflecting in my friend whenever we talk about her.

Although I was not here on April 16th, 2007, the events of that day will forever be a part of my life. The other 30 lives lost on that day were no less great than the 2 that affected me the most directly. That day at the dedication of the memorial I cried with strangers that became my best friends. A community accepted me as one of their own. When I look down at my class ring and think of my four years at Virginia Tech, it’s not the football games, parties, or snowy walks across the Drill Field I will remember. It’s the power of Hokie Nation and the wonderful people that comprise it. People say that all good things must come to an end. I say that is not true. I will always be a Hokie.