12:01 a.m., Drillfield, Virginia Tech


At 12:01 a.m. on April 16, 2008, Virginia Tech lit a candle in honor and remembrance of the members of the university community who were killed one year ago.

Video by Evelio Contreras

12:01 a.m., Drillfield, Virginia Tech

Members of the Corps of Cadets stood guard as taps echoed across the Drillfield and a candle was lit to honor and remember the victims of last year's shooting.

Photos and audio by Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Before midnight, April 15, Drillfield, Virginia Tech


Virginia Tech sophomore Benjamin Knopp sang and prayed with members of various Christian groups on the Drillfield.


Video by Evelio Contreras | The Roanoke Times

Before midnight (April 15), Drillfield, Virginia Tech

Students sing a prayer of thanks before the candle on the Drillfield is lit at midnight.

Photos and audio by Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

11:45 p.m., Drillfield, Virginia Tech

About 100 people gathered on the Drillfield for music and prayer before the lighting of a memorial candle late Tuesday night.

Photos and audio by Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

7:18 p.m. (April 15), Drillfield, Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech freshman Jennifer Ortolani, a freshman biology and psychology student from Potomac, Md., pauses at the memorial for shooting victim Ryan Clark on the Drillfield. Clark was a member of the Marching Virginians, and Ortolani plays piccolo for the group. Ortolani was in high school when the shootings occurred last year, but she said the incident had a profound impact on her decision to attend Virginia Tech. "The community responded so strongly as one," she said. "It was like a family, and now I feel at home here."

April 15, North Botetourt County

Hakim Maloum is walking across America.

Today, as he walks south on U.S. 11 toward Montgomery County, he'll be wearing a Virginia Tech hat in honor of the victims of last year's shooting.

The Botetourt View's Cathy Benson met up with Maloum as he walked through north Botetourt County yesterday. An excerpt from their chat:

Virginia Tech is bracing for one last round of April 16-related media attention.

As of Friday afternoon, 288 media professionals had requested credentials. They'll be driving more than 130 cars and 25 satellite trucks.

And the tally is still growing.

Mark Owczarski, Tech's director of news and information, said that based on the frequent e-mails and the regular ringing of his office phone Friday, he's expecting about 300 requests for credentials from about 80 media outlets for the university's remembrance events Wednesday. Events that day will mark the one-year anniversary of the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

Flower shop prepares for VT remembrance

Bill Altizer, owner of D'Rose Flower and Gift Shop, gets ready for the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Video by Evelio Contreras |
The Roanoke Times

Andrea Rojas and about 30 other Virginia Tech students spent two hours Sunday hunting for creative, unlikely spots to hang 300 sets of hand-painted ceramic bells -- Ben's Bells.

And they can't wait for you to have them.

"When we hear the stories of people who actually find them, that's when it'll mean something," Rojas said.

Ben's Bells is a Tucson, Ariz.-based nonprofit group that aims to bring kindness and hope to people hit by tragedy.

Jeannette Maré-Packard started the organization as a coping mechanism after her son, Ben, died suddenly in 2002.

"There's this massive tragedy thing to me where people want to back off and don't know what to say," said Maré-Packard, who serves as executive director of the nonprofit.

But, she said, "the support I got saved me."