After the Virginia Tech massacre,
local students search for peace

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Jessica Ford grew up in a generation of tragedy.
The Holy Family University senior was still in grade school when two students massacred 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
Ford was in high school herself by the time the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place. Now she’s getting ready to graduate from college in the wake of another terrible event — the deaths of 33 students and teachers at Virginia Tech.
"It’s like one tragedy after another," said Ford, 22.
Holy Family honored the students and faculty slain in the Virginia Tech massacre during a special Mass on Thursday. The event also marked the end of the school year. Graduation takes place May 12.
"The tragedy of one institution is the tragedy for all," said Sister Francesca Onley, president of Holy Family. "They were students, they were faculty and staff who died. They were victims of senseless, random violence."
A Virginia Tech banner hung on the wall parallel with one that had a Holy Family emblem.
Sister Francesca asked students to remember where they were on April 16, the day that 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 students and teachers in two separate campus shootings before turning the gun on himself.
The Holy Family president was preparing to embark on a journey to Istanbul, Turkey, when she heard the news.
"That area and that city is a combination of Jesuits, Christians and Muslims, and it was safer there that week," Sister Francesca said, referring to the bloodshed back in the United States.
Students showed their support for Virginia Tech by praying and by signing a banner that will be sent to the campus.
Freshman Marissa Donatone, 19, said that the college, whose students call themselves "Hokies" after their mascot, the Hokie bird, remains on everyone’s minds.
"Because it was another college campus, everyone’s looking for safety, making sure everyone is OK," she said.
Sophomore Rob Curcio, 20, was talking about the event with other members of Holy Family’s student government.
"We were talking about what we could do security-wise," he said.
If an emergency situation were to occur at Holy Family, the college could communicate with students and staff via mass e-mails, automated phone messages, electronic bulletin boards and the school’s Web site.
The school employs 22 security officers who patrol the campus 24 hours a day. Security officers and desk assistants monitor traffic at the entrance to each campus residence hall.
Daniel E. Hanks III, a Holy Family University professor of psychology, said fear often lingers after a high-profile school killing like the one at Virginia Tech.
"I do believe we have a generation of frightened kids," he said. "We have to consider the backdrop that generation has had — violence."
Hanks advocates the discussion of safety and security in the younger school grades and the practicing of disaster drills. In addition, paying attention to the people around us, including the ones who may be in need of help, as Seung-Hui Cho was, is vital, Hanks said.
"We need to be more community-minded and take some risks to help each other out," he said.
Hanks thinks universities like Holy Family should urge individuals with thoughts of harming themselves or others to seek counseling.
"As an institution, I think we should try forcing it as best we can, at least in documenting it," he said. "That at least shows that the institution offered help." ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com