Joy, loss mark Virginia Tech graduation
Slain students remembered at ceremonies
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- That it would be a day of beginnings, of propelling forward, was clear from the moment the sound of "Pomp and Circumstance" spilled across the thousands gathered last night in Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium.
When the graduates filed in, the crowd was standing. Their cheers deafening.
About 5,000 students graduated from the school, four weeks after a student gunman shattered the rural tranquility of the campus, killing 32 people and himself in what became the deadliest shooting by an individual in US history.
The slain students were not left out last night. All 27, not counting gunman Seung-Hui Cho, received posthumous degrees, their names and accomplishments printed inside the programs .
Shortly into the ceremony, university president Charles Steger read a letter from President Bush:
"Your actions in the face of great tragedy demonstrate the power of compassion and the indomitable spirit of a proud and determined university. We will always remember the lives that were taken, and we hold their families and friends in our hearts," the letter said.
"Your careers at Virginia Tech have prepared you to forge your own path forward, and the opportunities now before you are limited only by the size of your dreams."
Some of the victims' families went to a graduate ceremony at Cassell Coliseum and the undergraduate ceremony at Lane Stadium . Others chose not to.
"It is our sacred duty to mourn those who lost their lives so suddenly and tragically and to help their friends through these most difficult of times," retired Army General John Philip Abizaid, former commander of the US Central Command, said in his commencement address. "It is also our duty to recognize this commencement and to congratulate these families and these graduates for work accomplished and work yet to be accomplished."
That balance seemed to be the goal for everyone here.
Hours before he was to graduate, Vincent Caluori, 23, of Springfield, Va., took his parents to the drill field where the makeshift memorials that sprouted after the shooting continue to grow.
Under a white-and-blue tent sit thousands of scribbled notes, along with "VT" insignias made out of everything from popsicle sticks to dried daisies and baby's breath blossoms.
There is a display of eggs painted with each victim's name, reminding passers by that life is fragile.
Caluori stood outside, in front of flowers and mementos that had been left for his friend Ryan Clark.
"He will get all three of his degrees," he said. "I just kind of wish I could come back for another year and see how this place rebounds. It is a weird way to end it."
His father, Marco Caluori, called it surreal. "I just can't believe it happened," he said. "A nice, quiet place like Blacksburg -- you knew your kids were going to be safe."
Abizaid said that a day before his speech, he and his wife had strolled among the memorials on the drill field.
Before April 16, Abizaid said, he believed he'd be speaking at "the normal routine sort of commencement."
After that day, when Cho fired 170 rounds, killing 32 people and injuring 29 more before killing himself, it was clear that he wouldn't.
"I would have never thought I'd have to deliver such a speech, and in my worst dreams, I would never have wanted to," Abizaid said.
He said he hoped that the speech found a balance between remembering those lost and recognizing the accomplishments of the graduates.
Everywhere on campus were signs of moving on, of propelling forward.
Most of the boxes had been packed, and the dormitory rooms and apartments were being cleared out. 