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BLACKSBURG -- After the April horror, the world responded.

Seven months passed. Then, on a brisk, partly cloudy Saturday morning, thousands of people gathered at the heart of the Virginia Tech campus to express their gratitude for that international support. They did so with feet planted, with waving hands and recovering spirits.

As 11 a.m. approached, somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 people stood motionless atop lines meticulously surveyed and spray-painted on the Drillfield's grass. Most participants wore maroon and orange. They waited for the pass of an imaging satellite that they hoped would capture and communicate the message outlined by their collaborative stance: "VT thanks you."

Gloria Schoenholtz and Anne Campbell occupied an edge where one top of the letter "V" merged with the letter "T." Just 45 paces away, a semicircle of 32 engraved stones memorialized the shooting victims whose lives ended April 16 at the hands of Seung-Hui Cho.

Schoenholtz and Campbell, as volunteers after April 16, helped sort and archive the thousands of letters, the gifts and tributes that poured into Virginia Tech after word spread worldwide about the university's tragedy.

"It was the most beautiful outpouring of humanity I've ever seen," said Schoenholtz.

One group sent 33,000 peace cranes, delicate origami figures meant to symbolize peace and love. The total represented 1,000 cranes for each person killed, including Cho -- who ultimately shot himself in the head that day.

Expressions of support for the Tech community arrived from Korea, Cho's birthplace, from Switzerland, Jordan, Japan, Germany and many other countries, said Campbell.

On Saturday, David Mitchell, an employee of Virginia Tech, said he turned out for the reason emphasized by the organizers of Hokies Thank The World.

"After April 16th, everybody in the world came together to support the university, and now we are giving something back," Mitchell said.

Before the crowd launched into a countdown for the satellite's pass, children played touch football. A mutt named "Maddie," clad in a Bryan Randall Hokies football jersey, strained against her leash. Mothers and fathers pushed strollers. Bill Banks sat in his wheelchair, waiting to share in an event that allowed an expression of gratitude without a need for physical mobility.

Steve Nuckols, a 1982 graduate of Virginia Tech, slowly walked the memorial semicircle, reading the names inscribed.

One hit home: Austin Michelle Cloyd. Nuckols said one of his children is named Austin and another Michelle.

He said he was struck by the juxtaposition of the memorial, the festive crowd and the vitality of the Marching Virginians' music. The memorial, he said, provided a "solemn reminder of the evil in our world," while the upbeat crowd and band demonstrated that "life goes on."

Nearby, event coordinator Peter Sforza scrambled as 11 a.m. approached. Sforza, a research associate in the geography department, kept an eye on cloud cover as photographers in circling aircraft clicked images of the orderly throng. A public address announcer said the letters "H" and "A" needed more people. In sum, the painted lines framing the huge letters covered more than 1,700 yards, or nearly a mile of Drillfield ground.

At an altitude of about 423 miles, the IKONOS satellite approached. Sforza estimated the cloud cover to be about 50 percent, a percentage he said might hinder the satellite's ability to effectively capture the Drillfield image. He and the world probably won't know for a few days whether it did, Sforza said.

A few hours later, in Lane Stadium, football players occupied another lined field as Virginia Tech played Miami. Sforza and other volunteers hoped to share aerial shots of the event with the stadium crowd. Sforza wasn't sure how he would get a disc of the images to ABC, which televised the gridiron matchup.

"I don't have a ticket to the game," he said.