Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Norris Hall on Virginia Tech's campus.

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BLACKSBURG -- When Blacksburg Middle School Principal Danny Knott and his staff first heard the April 16 death toll, they prayed nobody they knew would be among those slain at Virginia Tech.

Despite their prayers, four students at the school are missing a parent from the tragedy. Other schools in Montgomery County were also hit, but none so hard.

About a dozen people within the county school system lost a parent, sibling, child or grandchild in the shootings, and stories of cousins or other relatives who were lost are still coming in, said school Superintendent Tiffany Anderson.

Kipps Elementary is the only other Montgomery County school where a student has been identified as having lost a parent.

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, Kevin Granata and G.V. Loganathan were the victims with children enrolled at the middle school.

The students are Sylvie Couture-Nowak; Alex and Eric Granata; and Abhi Loganathan. The student at Kipps Elementary is Ellen Granata.

With one exception, all students who lost a parent came to school Monday, the first day back after schools reopened, Anderson said.

The middle school had eight counselors on hand Monday compared with two or three typically. Working with volunteers, the school system also made counseling available to families at four elementary schools Monday. More than 25 families were seen, Anderson said.

Knott, the middle school principal, said for the most part, his students seem to be embracing the routine of school.

"Our belief was that they really needed to be around their peers as much as possible to try to get back to as normal a situation at school as they possibly could," Knott said.

He also said: "I think they were tired of being at home, tired of all the media attention that was on TV about it."

Experts say the challenge the school faces is daunting not only because of the number of students who lost parents, but because of the awkward life stage of those students: old enough to understand what happened, but lacking the maturity a high school student might have.

"Middle schoolers really have a hard time because they're caught in that cusp between childhood and adulthood," said Tom Demaria, a vice president of South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y., who heads the World Trade Center Family Center.

Just as an adolescent is starting to explore being more independent, "what happens with trauma, especially violence and death, it can kind of push them backwards," he said.

In the short term, anger, withdrawal and slipping grades are common in traumatized adolescents. But parents, teachers and counselors should keep an eye out for longer-lasting changes in behavior or "self medication" such as drug or alcohol abuse, said Russell Jones, a professor of psychology at Tech who directs a clinic for children who have undergone trauma.

For children reeling from a highly publicized tragedy such as the Tech shootings, "school can be an escape, only because they can get away from the news, they can get away from what's going on," said Marilyn Neudeck-Dicken, a fellow of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.

She often has children write a letter to a deceased parent, attach it to a balloon and then release it.

"It gives them a feeling of control," Neudeck-Dicken said, "something that they can do that's important to their parent, all the things they wanted to say that they never got to say, which I think is vitally important."

Activities such as sports and art are also helpful because they allow students to channel their anger in a positive way, she said.

Knott said athletics resumed at his school Monday, and an art teacher reported that students jumped right into working that day.

A collection drive to raise money for the Hokie Hope campaign will take place at the school next week, and a memorial tree donated by Valley Landscaping and Lacie's in the Valley will be planted in a ceremony shortly after the end of standardized testing, which starts in two weeks, Knott said.

He said his student body is "just being wonderful in helping all our students get back to normal -- as close to normal as we can be -- as quickly as possible."

Andrew Becker, whose daughter is close friends with Couture-Nowak's daughter, agreed:

"The counselors, the staff, the parents and especially the kids are trying to surround the families with a compassionate embrace. None of us knows just what to do, but I have to believe that the wide encircled arms of these children must, absolutely must, be doing some good."