Sachem East Alum On Campus at Virginia Tech

Erica Feldman is a freshman at Virginia Tech and graduated from Sachem High School East last year.

Like many of her current classmates, she was on campus Thursday when a gunman killed two people, including Tech police officer Derek Crouse. It's the same campus that in 2007 experienced the worst shootings in modern U.S. history. 

She was studying in her dorm with her roommate, because it was reading day.

"We started getting the emails about the shootings," she said. "It was actually in the parking lot adjacent to my dorm. We didn't hear any gun shots, which was weird because it was so close."

Feldman, a proud member of Hokies nation for what the university provides her and the community, is upset that Virginia Tech's reputation is marred by the shootings and less about the type of outstanding academic institution it has been.

"I hate when I tell people I go to Tech and they say, 'Oh, where those shootings were?'" she said. "I am so sick of hearing 'Why do these shootings always happen at Virginia Tech?' This was not April 16, 2007. This was an unfortunate event, but even more unfortunately, such things happen all over the United States. I hate hearing that it is being compared to April 16th. These events do not define us as students, as a school, as a Hokie Nation." 

Feldman, who is from Holbrook, said this past year the university raised the most money out of any school in the United States for Relay for Life, a cancer fundraising organization.

"Did that get any publicity?" she said. "No. We are such a giving, loving community. But it seems that the only thing people want to know us for are the shootings."

In a letter to the Virginia Tech community, University President Charles Steger said those associated with the campus should use each other for comfort. 

"We must also acknowledge that the bond we feel most strongly in these times is borne of sorrow, and that sorrow demands that we turn to one another for solace," he said. "I encourage you to seek out consolation in the company of your fellow Hokies, those who understand how these events, tragic though they are, shape us into better people."

Feldman, who is studying animal science at Tech, declined to speak about the incident on campus this week or how others have reacted on campus compared to the shootings in 2007. Instead she wanted to stress that these events do not define the current student body.

"I want people to think of us as a strong, united community," she said. "We will mourn the loss of one of our own officers, and show him the true Hokie respect he deserves. This event will not define who we are as a school. We will show the world that we are strong, that we are Hokies."