BLACKSBURG Va.
Sophomore Dat Hoang was eager to return to Virginia Tech, but moving back Wednesday also brought back memories of the friend he lost in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
“It reminds me of tragedy,” he said. “It reminds me of good times we had.”
Hoang and his friend, Henry J. Lee, lived in West Ambler Johnston dormitory, where gunman Seung-Hui Cho began his April 16 shooting spree. On Wednesday, Hoang was moving in without his friend into Harper Hall, the dormitory where Cho lived.
“I don’t want to think too much about it,” said Hoang, of Fairfax. “It doesn’t matter where he lived.”
The mood among most students and parents hauling belongings into dormitories was cheerful four months after Cho’s spree left 32 people and the gunman dead.
“It feels about like move-in day last year,” said Matt Croushorn, a sophomore who was helping others move into their rooms in West Ambler Johnston. More students are expected to move in over the next several days.
