Feb 24, 2008 7:50 pm US/Central
NIU Holds Memorial For 5 Slain Students
DEKALB, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Northern Illinois University student Amber Croy says a prayer in front of a memorial to slain students constructed near Cole Hall on the campus of NIU on Feb.15, 2008. in DeKalb, Ill. (File)
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Classes start again Monday at Northern Illinois University for the first time since the February 14th shooting that claimed the lives of five students.
At 7 p.m. Sunday, there will be a campus service, designed to celebrate the victim's lives and move the university forward. CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago's Katie McCall reports on the NIU event.
Doors just opened a half hour ago at the Convocation Center and already hundreds of students have walked into the auditorium. They say it was important to be here to grieve together.
Rehearsal for the memorial service at NIU has been underway all afternoon as speakers prepare to remember the five students who were killed at the school 10 days ago and to help the dozens still suffering from physical and emotional wounds.
For many students, honoring the dead is an important final step toward returning to college life since classes resume on campus Monday.
"We're banning together to honor the ones that died and to pray for the ones that are still working their way through it and everyont else that is coping; I feel this is one of the better things that we are doing to help our school," said student Whitley Cole.
"I just think that since this happened there is more a sense of community here, students are more together now since it happened to all of us," said student Jenna Thiele.
Some students want to hear from the university, which has promised more than 500 counselors will be on hand along with added security.
"This didn't need to happen to students at NIU and I really feel deeply for everything that happened to these people and I just want to see what they say to us," said student Laura Belletini.
Others just want to grieve so that they can focus on their school work and get back to a normal routine.
Above the building, are posted lyrics from the school's song: "Forward, together, forward" – encouraging the student body to move ahead in the wake of the tragedy.
"People grieve and then they have to move on…grieve at your own pace. We can do it," said student Tawny Kinsch.
Among the speakers listed on the program are Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Dick Durbin. Sen. Barack Obama is expected to attend, but is not speaking.
NIU officials say they expect the crowd to exceed capacity.
The memorial will be broadcast live and simulcast to NIU gatherings across the country and in Iraq.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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