Auburn students drive sign to VT

Title

Auburn students drive sign to VT

Description

By Sarah Brock
Senior Reporter

Less than 24 hours after Auburn students created a sign to show support for the Virginia Tech community, the sign was resting on the Drillfield at Virginia Tech's campus thanks to a late-night drive by two Auburn seniors.

Around midnight on Tuesday, Cary Farrington and Ryan Hill began to drive to VT to deliver a 4-foot by 8-foot sheet of plywood signed by many Auburn students and faculty.

When Farrington and Hill arrived in Blacksburg, Va. around 8:30 a.m., they were received by members of Virginia Tech's SGA, who helped them erect the signed memorial, which reads "We stand with you in Prayer."

Farrington described the campus as real silent, partly because many students had left. The students the pair did encounter were still shocked.

"It still had not registered with them," Farrington said. "They still had not processed everything. It was really a shock for them."

Farrington and Hill had the chance to see the campus, including the buildings where the shootings occurred. Despite the quiet atmosphere, Farrington said police were all over campus.

"The Virginia State Police were patrolling everywhere," Farrington said. "I've never seen so many police. On gameday here we see a lot of Alabama State Troopers. This just blows that out of the water."

The sign was created by members of Auburn's Wesley Foundation, which held a prayer vigil Monday night. Julie Robertson, associate director of Wesley Foundation, said about 45 people attended the vigil where Farrington and Hill brought up the idea of a sign.

"The beautiful thing about the response was the idea of 'what can we do to tangibly show we love them from a distance,'" Robertson said.

Farrington, who is president of the Wesley Foundation, isn't sure how many names are on the sign, but he said after the first two hours on the Concourse, he counted 500 names on the front alone. He estimated another 300 on the back. He said the highest guess anyone has made is approximately 2,500 signatures total.

"There's literally not any room to put another signature on there," Farrington said.

Farrington said the Virginia Tech students received the sign well.

"Everybody up there was really appreciative and excited," Farrington said. "It was amazing to see how well they received us."

Pictures of the sign on Virginia Tech's campus have been posted on cnn.com and in the photo gallery on usatoday.com. Farrington said he and Hill had to drink a lot of Red Bull and double-shot espressos to make the trip possible. Robertson said an anonymous donor also ensured the sign made it to Virginia Tech by providing the money to make the trip happen.

Robertson described the journey as a "labor of love," and one the pair didn't hesitate to take.

"The boy has a very busy week," Robertson said. "He did not have time to drive up to Virginia, but it was never a second thought. He never second-guessed it all."

But Farrington is reluctant to receive any sort of recognition.

"We were real adamant that we wanted to make sure it wasn't about us or us bringing it up," Farrington said. "It was from the Auburn family and that's how we want it to be perceived."

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Original Source:<a href=http://www.theplainsman.com/node/2451>Aubrun Plainsman - April 19, 2007</a>

Creator

Sarah Brock

Publisher

Auburn Plainsman

Date

2007-09-03

Contributor

Sara AA Hood

Rights

David Ingram <ingradc@auburn.edu>

Language

eng

Citation

Sarah Brock, “Auburn students drive sign to VT,” The April 16 Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://www.april16archive.org/items/show/1289.