Profiles of students

Nicole Berns
Jenna Broderick
Samantha Brunell
Dan Ciamprone
Patrick Korellis
Monique Caspillan and Lhee Santos
Desiree Smith
Kevin Sundstrom
Jillian Thomas
Lindsay Ullmann
Chris Werve

Profiles of victims

Gayle Dubowski
Catalina Garcia
Julianna Gehant
Ryanne Mace
Daniel Parmenter

Student in the wrong place at the right time

By Vincent Pierri | Daily Herald Staff

"Pretty freaked out" is the way Chris Werve felt when he first heard about the shootings at Cole Hall.

The 19-year-old music major from Geneva skipped his ocean science class at the last minute. A saxophone player, Werve couldn't pass up an invitation to rehearse with the NIU Jazz Ensemble. They needed a substitute and called him right before class started.

"I was excited when they called," he said. "They are one of the best around. I couldn't pass that up."

At one point during the practice, the drummer raised his cell phone over his head. "He said, 'Hey, I just got a text. There's been a shooting at Cole Hall,' " Werve explained. "It took a couple of minutes for me to realize, I was supposed to be there. I was breathing hard, thinking, 'Oh my God, that could have been me.'"

Watching the news coverage in the hours after the shootings, Werve realized that he would have been sitting in the seats where the others were killed or injured.

"It went through my mind for months. That could have been me," he said. "I had trouble sleeping after that. I guess some people would call it survivor's guilt."

Pondering all of the what-if's, Werve said the platitudes are true. "It's a cliché, but today could really be your last day," he said. "It makes you realize what's important in life. And for me it's music."

Werve said the ordeal helped him clarify his direction in life. He's planning on a career as a high school music teacher and says he wants to enjoy the journey.

"I'm not a very religious person," he said. "But I believe my mom when she said, 'God has a plan. And everything happens for a reason.' "


	Catalina Garcia stood out among her peers. She had the potential to be a great teacher, even a great leader. That's how her former high school teachers described her after learning she died in the shooting rampage. The shootings at Northern Illinois University hit especially hard at Dundee-Crown High School with the news that one of the victims was Ryanne Mace, a 2006 graduate, well-known for her love of music. After spending more than a decade in the Army, Julianna Gehant had set her sights on a new career: Teaching. In a Christmas card, the 32-year-old woman from Mendota, had written of plans to teach second graders. Dan Parmenter was seen by his Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brothers as a gentle giant. At nearly 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, the Westchester native was built to excel on the football and rugby fields. Sweet and quiet is how friends and former instructors at Glenbard North High School remembered Gayle Dubowski. But put her in a choir robe and on some risers, that's where she found her voice.