BLACKSBURG, Va. - For a generation that has grown up with the evolving technology of the time, it seems most fitting for memorials and prayers to be passed around through the Internet.
Facebook, a social networking site, has been hit with an influx of recent "groups" created to honor the Virginia Tech students caught in the throes of Monday's events.
By searching "Tech Shooting," 362 groups come up as hits, most of them dedicated to the memory of the students and their families.
One group created by Tech student Tim Hall is called "April 16, 2007 - A Moment of Silence" and has 8,712 members thus far.
"It was like having a good dream and waking up in the middle of a nightmare," Hall said. "Virginia Tech needed unity. By expressing what I felt on Facebook, I knew the entire campus would rally and support the group. We are going through one of those rare times when every student on campus is feeling the same emotion: emptiness. It was my way of bringing the university together and showing my classmates that the entire country supports us. It is truly an amazing way of watching our beautiful country come together to start the healing process."
Each group has a "wall," which members, after they have joined, may write on to express their thoughts on topics about the group. In a 5-minute span on the wall for Hall's Facebook group, students from Old Dominion University, New York University, Florida State University, Texas State, Marshall, Christopher Newport University, the University of Miami, Auburn, North Carolina A&T, Seminole Community College, Rice and SUNY Potsdam all wrote messages expressing their prayers and condolences to Tech students and the hardships everyone on campus was enduring.
University studies student Kara Whipkey joined Hall's group to honor a friend of hers who was shot in the massacre.
"I personally joined the group to let everyone who is grieving know that we are all thinking and praying for them," Whipkey said. "I have a friend, Kristina Heeger, who is tragically a victim as well, and I am waiting to hear her status.
"I just can't believe something like this has happened," Whipkey said. "I really have no words to show how I'm feeling. All I can really say is that I am praying for the victims and their family and friends."
Thousands of students expressed the same sentiments.
One group called "A tribute to those who passed at the Virginia Tech shooting" is the largest group so far created for memorializing the victims of April 16. At 4 p.m. yesterday, the total number of members was up to 5,738. By 7:30 p.m., there were close to 31,000 members.
The events on campus have spread their way across international boundaries. The creator of this group, Paul Jansen, is in Greece. Another group created by Tech freshman Michael Leonard is called "Virginia Tech Massacre Memorial Group."
"I thought this would be a good way to increase awareness," Leonard said. "I was in lockdown in Torgersen Hall, and I wondered if anyone had done it. When I got back to my room, I decided I would just make one myself."
However, not all Facebook groups created take a positive standpoint.
One such group is called, "Duck n Cover - The saga continues." Many students have voiced their opinions of the group on its wall, asking the creator to erase the group entirely.
"I was offended by the nature of that group," said Tech freshman Alex Weaver.
But groups like these are few and far between.
Students and Facebook members have mobilized themselves on a digital front to show their support for the Hokies and everyone touched by the events on this day in April. Supporters increase by the minute, and the Hokies hear their heartfelt offerings of remorse.
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