Somber homecoming

Back-to-school | At Virginia Tech, back-to-school means a return to the scene of a devastating crime | Jamie Dean

Key changes: A new door in Norris Hall only has a lock and no doorknob

For Margaret Beale, returning to school this fall is different. Just last spring, the rising junior from South Boston, Va., wasn't sure she would return to Virginia Tech at all. Beale, a 21-year-old history major, walked into Hancock Hall on April 16 around the same time Cho Seung-Hui entered Norris Hall next door. Less than an hour later, Cho's vicious rampage had left 33 dead and 25 injured in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

Beale took cover in a nearby parking lot after a policeman evacuated her building and told students to run. A professor drove her and another student to safety. A terrified Beale thought she wouldn't return. "School is where you are supposed to feel completely safe," she told WORLD. "And I just felt completely violated."

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August 18, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 30

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