President Bush and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine flew into this grieving mountain town Tuesday, hoping to find the words that would comfort thousands of stricken students, parents and faculty who struggled to understand how this college campus became the scene of the worst shooting rampage in the nation’s history.
Students clad in the Virginia Tech colors — Chicago maroon and burnt orange — filed into the school’s 9,800-seat basketball coliseum. And thousands more crowded into Lane Stadium, the nearby football field.
They came alone, in groups or with parents and friends from home, many too scared to stay on campus but too lonely to leave their college companions.
“Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow,” Bush said. “People around the country are thinking of you and asking God to provide comfort to all those affected. As you draw closer to your families in the coming days. I ask you to reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who are never coming home.”
One young woman who couldn’t get inside pressed her face against the glass door and cried. Other youngsters sat stone-faced or as though in deep thought.
Gov. Tim Kaine, who had flown in from Tokyo, said as he and his wife raced back upon hearing of the tragedy, he concluded that, “it’s a very bitter and sad day and yet there’s no place in the world we’d rather be than here with you. You have a remarkable community here.”
Two speakers brought the crowd out of lethargy. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger and English professor Nikki Giovanni received standing ovations.
As the convocation ended, Giovanni declared “We are the Hokies. We will prevail” and the audience rose as one cheering.
But on the way out, Rose Hylton and Courtney Martin, both freshmen from Hillsville, Va., said the second day has been more difficult than the first. Both girls said they couldn’t cry Monday as they learned of their dorm-mates’ slayings. But on Tuesday, both woke up in tears.
“Today is going to be worse than yesterday. Today it’s setting in and it’s horrible,” Martin said.
