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KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech students (from left) Bethany Clemmons, Ellie Smith, Amber Roth and Michelle McLeese find comfort in one another Wednesday during a ceremony on the Drillfield at Virginia Tech.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

A young woman waits to place flowers on the victims' memorial after a commemoration ceremony Wednesday on the Drillfield at Virginia Tech.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Members of the Virginia Tech community hold candles during a vigil Wednesday evening on the Drillfield. One student leader said the gathering helped to create a sense of togetherness on campus.

BLACKSBURG -- Thousands of Virginia Tech students capped an emotional day with their familiar cheer Wednesday night at a candlelight vigil commemorating the lives of 32 students and faculty killed last April 16.

"Let's go!" came a shout from one end of the university's Drillfield.

"Hokies!" most of the crowd yelled back.

Wednesday's vigil was similar to the one students organized last April 17, when thousands of people filled the Drillfield holding candles, singing "Amazing Grace" and finishing the gathering with chants of "Let's go Hokies." It happened less than 36 hours after the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

Student Government Association president Adeel Khan said the purpose of another vigil, nearly one year later, was the same.

"We're just giving people an opportunity to come together and remember the lives that were lost," he said.

Khan added that Wednesday's vigil gave some students who left campus shortly after last year's shootings a chance to experience the sense of togetherness that students who stayed felt. Many students who were on campus for last year's vigil remember it as a good moment during a difficult week, so it's one memory that's good to rekindle, he said.

Two students read the names of each victim, and a student used a ceremonial candle at the April 16 memorial lit at midnight Tuesday to light a candle for each victim and stand next to their memorial stone. Heidi Miller and Derek O'Dell, two students wounded in last year's shootings, were among them.

"One year ago we were devastated by an unfathomable tragedy that would change our lives forever," Khan said at the beginning of the vigil. "In the midst of our sorrow, we didn't know what to do, we just wanted to be together."

To the victims who died, Khan said, "We love you, we miss you, and we would give anything for you to be with us today."

Those gathered last year sang a spontaneous rendition of "Amazing Grace." This year a student ensemble sang, "Walk Humbly, Son," a song the university used for a memorial video it produced after April 16 and played on the Lane Stadium scoreboard before the football team's home opener in the fall. The song is written by Eddie from Ohio, a Northern Virginia group whose vocalist went to Virginia Tech.

Walk humbly, son
Walk humbly, now
And cherish every step
For a life well spent
On this Earth we're lent
Will be marked by the void you have left

The song brought many in the audience to tears. Some participated in the "Let's go Hokies," chant through the tears. Others continued to wipe their eyes or hug friends.

The April 16 anniversary brought on varied reactions and emotions from people.

Throughout the day a steady line of people walked around the memorial, a semicircle of 32 Hokie stones on the edge of the Drillfield in front of Burruss Hall, Tech's administrative building. The memorial, normally cleaned of mementos daily, was filled with flowers, notes and other small tributes left in memory of the victims.

But the general mood on campus leading up to the vigil Wednesday evening seemed positive. Students threw Frisbees and played soccer during the afternoon. Some painted rocks and kites or wrote notes to friends they lost at various workshops created to bring people together. Others just hung out with friends and enjoyed the weather.

The Drillfield held a heavier atmosphere Wednesday morning that belied the beautiful weather, itself a sharp contrast from the cold, blustery day of a year ago. There were no "Let's go Hokies" chants and no loud applause. Just quiet conversation between friends before and after the ceremony as the band played solemn music.

"While the passage of time has helped us in many ways, we remain deeply and profoundly saddened," Tech President Charles Steger told the crowd. "It is fitting that we gather today to support one another yet again."

Tony Distler, voice of the Marching Virginians, and retired Tech employee and community volunteer Karen Cronin read the names of the 32 victims in alphabetical order. Less than a minute each, the tributes were a mix of short, general adjectives and more specific details.

"Maxine Shelly Turner, 'Max.' Brilliant, beautiful, talented. Quirky, motivated and ambitious. Enjoyed swing dancing, tae kwon do, schoolwork, violin and talking to herself while playing 'Zelda,' her favorite video game," Distler read as part of the tribute to one victim.

During the ceremony, the crowd was silent, with loved ones sharing hugs and tears when a friend or family member's tribute was read. Several family members and some students wounded in the shooting were in attendance.

Gov. Tim Kaine spoke to the crowd not just about the immediate loss felt a year ago, but the loss of what might have been.

"Their lives were just too short for all the promise and all the good that was in them," he said. "The world was cheated on April 16 a year ago. Cheated out of the accomplishments that were sure to come out of these extraordinary lives."

But their deaths can serve as a reminder of the brevity of life and as an impetus for people to do the most with their own lives, Kaine said. He talked about VT Engage, the university effort that has generated more than 200,000 hours of community service and counting in honor of the victims. And he mentioned the appropriateness of Tech's motto: "Ut prosim," Latin for "That I may serve."

"We can't break out of the bonds of our own brief lives except, except by touching others' lives," he said. "It is so clear from even this brief description of these 32 that they understood that."

Tech sophomore Bryce Carter said he appreciated the sentiments and tone of the ceremony. He was on the Drillfield on Tuesday holding a "hugs for Hokies" sign. Many of his own emotions from last year had been put aside until the lighting of a ceremonial candle on the Drillfield at midnight Tuesday, he said. The anniversary, and the memories it brings with it, sneaked up on him.

"The last year's been a blur to say the least," he said. "Summer, fall, spring and then we're here."