Last month, HALEY FREKING and her mom toured Virginia Tech. Two days later, the unthinkable happened. Since then, the high school senior has decided: She's a Hokie.
CENTREVILLE, Va.
Haley Freking wears a Virginia Tech jersey in the AP Washington Bureau. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)
I wore my Virginia Tech jersey for the first time the day after a shooting massacre on the campus left 33 people dead.
With my deadline for deciding which college to attend drawing near, VT was still in the running, but I still wasn't sure where to go or what to study. Still, I wanted to be part of something that day, to show my support for all those who were hurting.
I had bought the jersey a few weeks earlier because I knew there was a chance I could go to VT in the fall -- and even if I didn't, I could always give it to a friend who would go there.
I wore my jersey again that Friday, the day my school had chosen to honor the victims. I had never seen so much pride in my life as when I went to my school, Centreville High, and saw everyone wearing Tech colors. It was as close to a formal uniform as you'll see in a public school like mine. Everywhere I looked, I saw maroon and orange.
While I still hadn't made my official decision about college, I left school that day impressed with what I had seen. Everyone -- the jocks and the geeks, the preps and the goths -- was wearing maroon and orange. That display of pride didn't even happen when we played football against our rival school, Westfield -- the alma mater, it turns out, of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho and two of his victims.
I was still wearing my VT jersey later that day when I decided to become a Virginia Tech student this fall. A waitress asked me if I went there, and for the first time, I could confidently say, "I'll be going there next year." It was the most exhilarating feeling in the world to know where I would be going to college, and knowing that it would be at VT.
On the day of the shootings, my parents asked me what I was thinking about and whether the day's events had affected my decision about college. My mom and I had toured the campus just two days before the shootings.
What happened that Monday, it turns out, did not hurt my opinion of the school. Instead, my admiration for the Hokie spirit grew by the hour.
I was given the chance to see a school that went through so much pain, only to rise above it all. I admired the strength of all those students who suffered through the tragedy and I chose to attend Virginia Tech in the hope that, one day, I will be as strong as those people.
I cheered inside when the school played its first baseball game after the shooting. I don't even enjoy baseball, except for the nachos, yet seeing the school begin to heal was remarkable.
All those students experienced so much pain, and yet they live on, making the most of their lives.
The shooter at Virginia Tech was incapable of hurting my passion for my future school, and it shocked me when I realized that others had let him affect their college decision. I did not understand it. We were supposed to see the strength of the students on the news and emulate it, not cower and let the shooter change our lives.
Virginia Tech is a wonderful university and I can't wait until next year. The people are friendly, the teachers are some of the foremost professors in their fields, the campus is gorgeous -- and the food is ranked No. 2 in the country.
I pray for the victims of the shootings, their families, their friends, and I pray for the family of the shooter. May they all be blessed.
And one final thought as I look forward to the fall: GO HOKIES!!!
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asap contributor Haley Freking is a 17-year-old student at Centreville High School in Northern Virginia.
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