Castleton Spartan

Issue date: 5/9/07 Section: News

Students gather for a moment of silence to respect those lost at Viginia Tech

"Oh no, the wind blew my candle out," a student said as she walked through campus. Quickly, two other students offered her a light off of their own candle.

Then it happened again, and again. Every time a person's candle went out, another student stopped to offer their flame.

With the wind gusting through campus, approximately 30 Castleton students and faculty members somberly walked together on April 30.

They gathered to remember the 33 Virginia Tech students and faculty who were killed by a classmate on April 16. The memorial, which began at 8 p.m. at the amphitheatre, was put together by students Donna Sims and Yvette Furnia.

Upon arrival, people were given a lit candle in a paper cup along with a maroon and orange ribbon to represent Virginia Tech's school colors. Sims then opened the event off by saying how important she thought it was to remember the deceased students and faculty.

The attendees then walked from the amphitheatre through the residential side of campus, crossed South St. and continued through the other side of campus down Seminary St., before turning down Main St. and heading back where they started.

Sims said she wanted to host a memorial because she didn't feel like anyone was doing anything about the situation. Simms talked to faculty members and they decided to hold an open forum on April 20 about what could be done.

"Yvette had the idea of doing the march and speak out and I really wanted a candlelight vigil and moment of silence. That was the best way I felt something could be done," Sims said in an interview.

After people took their seats around the amphitheatre, Furnia spoke to the group, saying, "It was my idea to have a speak-out because I wanted to speak out."

Furnia went on to talk about the symbolism she saw in the candles.

"The wind was blowing people's candles out and we stopped as a group and kept relighting them. The flame symbolized the students who were killed, relighting them showed we are keeping these people in our memory," Furnia said.

Furnia went on to say that she was a friend of one of the students who was killed. On April 17, Furnia checked her friend's Facebook page and saw people's messages asking where she was and if she was OK. After a busy day that Furnia hadn't had much time to think about what had happened, it was then that it really sunk in that it was real.

Continued...

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