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Remembrance Projects

We are developing Remembrance Projects on an ongoing basis to honor the lives of those lost in April of 2007 on our campus. Our goal is to develop lasting community service projects as well as learning projects for school children related to the interest areas of the people we lost. If you are interested in assisting with these projects, please contact Karen Gilbert.

Many different people are involved in these Remembrance projects and are working hard to honor the lives of family and friends. Remembrance Projects can be started by anyone or any organization wanting to honor someone we lost. Here are some wonderful examples of what we hope to accomplish in memory of each person:

1. Teach for Madame A program developed by Virginia Tech French students to teach French at the local elementary schools in remembrance of Jocelyne Couture-Nowak. For more information, contact senior John Welch
2. A similar program to teach German to elementary students after school,Teach for Jamie, is now underway and is being offered at Beeks Elementary School and in Blacksburg. Forty nine students grades K-5 are participating.The Teach for Jamie program was established in remembrance of Herr (Jamie) Bishop.
3. Erin Peterson Build -- There is a major project underway in Northern Virginia in memory of Erin Peterson--being led by a team of people who graduated from Virginia Tech. Five Habitat for Humanity houses will be built in her honor in Loudoun County in a subdivision named in Erin's honor--which will aslo have a street named after Erin. Loudoun Habitat for Humanity plans to raise $400,000 using eBay's MissionFish towards building four of the five houses. MissionFish was founded by Virginia Tech alumnus Sean Milliken (Communications, 1996) and is the non-profit fundraising arm of eBay. There are many ways people can participate in this special project. Download the data sheet with all of the information about the Erin Peterson Build project.
4. The Marching Virginians sponsored the Ryan "Stack" Clark Build in May and June of 2009--which involved building a house for a family in Blacksburg, VA in partnership with Community Housing Partners and the Town of Blacksburg. Hundreds of volunteers from the Marching Virginians and the community worked for two solid weeks to build a beautiful new home to benefit a family in Blacksburg. Click here for project photos and more information.
5. Remembrance Through Dance--The Virginia Tech Contemporary Dance Ensemble sponsors a wide variety of dance workshops in memory of Reema Samaha who was an extremely talented dancer and member of the Ensemble. Complete information about this project can be found at the Remembrance Through Dance website or visit the VT Contemporary Dance Ensemble website.

Listen to Virginia Governor Tim Kain's commemoration speech at Virginia Tech about the importance of service as a way to honor the lives we lost in April of 2007. Length: 10:34 Download (MP3 | 10MB)