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NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens who were in the classroom on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Jenna Broderick's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Samantha Brunell's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Dan Ciamprone's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens who were in the classroom on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Cindy Graves' story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Bruce Harrison's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Patrick Korellis' story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Tim Mayerbock's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is John Peters's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Lhee Santos' and Monique Caspillian's stories.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Kevin Sundstrom's story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Jill Thomas' story.

NIU's struggles
and triumphs

Nearly 10 months after the shootings at Northern Illinois University, those who were in Cole Hall 101 continue to feel the effects, and many say they always will.

Some who weren’t physically hurt carry psychological scars. Others reflect on a moment of clarity that changed their viewpoints or goals.

Many refuse to let that day define them.

Daily Herald reporters interviewed dozens of students, rescue workers and others who there on Feb. 14, 2008.

Here is Chris Werve's story.

RETURN - NIU moves forward

Return

Part 1: A campus heals together - Students passing the abandoned lecture hall crowd the outer walkway, leaving the sidewalk that runs along the front doors of the building virtually empty.

They all seem a little quieter as they walk by, stealing a few fleeting glances, but rarely stopping.

Floral memorials have withered away, sorrowful signs have been removed and the yellow crime-scene tape is long gone. Nearly all traces of the tragedy at Northern Illinois University's Cole Hall are erased, except the locked building and most of the students who lived through it...read full story

REMEMBER - Healing and remembrance

Remember

Part 2: Scholarships, a garden, a special song honor NIU's five shooting victims - Geology 104 was Nicole Berns' first class in a large lecture hall.

It met in Room 101 in Cole Hall, a nondescript brick building where thousands of Northern Illinois University students had attended lectures since 1968.

"I can tell you I really loved that auditorium," said Berns, 30, a Schaumburg native. "It had this grand collegiate quality, and I just really liked to be there, and the teacher was really dynamic."...read full story

RECOVER - Moving 'Together Forward'

Recover

Part 3: Survivors: Some still can't talk about what happened that day - Certain cues can make Cole Hall shooting survivors relive the nightmare.

Doors slamming. Fireworks or other loud noises. A helicopter overhead. Someone walking in during the middle of class.

The cues prompt flashbacks to Valentine's Day, when a gunman killed five students and injured 21 others in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb...read full story

A survivor's story - Maria Ruiz Santana

'Go tell her to be strong'
Rebeca Santana-Ruiz

Part 1 - The hospital staff quickly led Rebeca Santana-Ruiz and Alfredo Ruiz to their 20-year-old daughter, Maria.

She had just arrived by helicopter from DeKalb, and when they saw her, she was lying on a stretcher, semiconscious and covered in blood.

Maria had been shot, but because there was so much blood on her, it wasn't clear how many times or where...read full story

Finding peace in revisiting Cole Hall
Rebeca Santana-Ruiz

Part 2 - Northern Illinois University Police Chief Donald Grady slowly pushed open the doors of the Cole Hall auditorium, and Maria Ruiz Santana and her parents took a few steps into the room.

They looked around at the eerily empty podium and rows of seats. Then Maria stoically walked down the aisle to the exact place she was on that February afternoon when a gunman suddenly appeared in front of her Introduction to Ocean Science class and fired his shotgun into the rows of students...read full story

Surviving...and thriving
Rebeca Santana-Ruiz

Part 3 - Sometimes, walking on the Northern Illinois University campus, Maria Ruiz Santana suddenly feels anxious and finds herself looking suspiciously at everything around her.

The 21-year-old senior from Elgin, who was shot in Cole Hall on Feb. 14, isn't worried that someone's going to pop out of the bushes and hurt her. It's just a general anxiety that creeps up on her from time to time, despite her best efforts to put the trauma of that day behind her....full story

NIU shooting coverage
 
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