Second floor west wing of Norris Hall reopens

  At one survivor, and several family members who lost loved ones, attended a short ceremony before the second floor west wing of Norris Hall reopened.

  The wing had been closed since Seung-Hui Cho gunned down 29 people on April 16, 2007.

  Professor Bryan Cloyd attended a short ceremony at the new Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention to mark the reopening.

  Cloyd lost his daughter Austin in the massacre.

  Center director, Dr. Jerzy Nowak, also gave remarks at the ceremony.

  As director, Nowak will now work at the same place where he lost his wife on April 16th, french professor Jocelyn Couture-Nowak.

  At least one survivor, Kristina Heeger, also attended the ceremony.

  Cho shot Heeger three times while she was in Nowak’s French class.

  Heeger said going back to the second floor at Norris obviously wasn’t easy.

  “I do it more to prove to myself that I can do it,“  Heeger said.  “But it’s not something I embrace totally.“

  There will be classrooms in the renovated wing.

  Designers wanted it to be completely unrecognizable compared to what it was in April of 2007.

  Most of the renovated rooms will house research labs for the university’s Mechanic Sciences and Engineering department.

  The total cost of the renovation was around $1,000,000.

  Builders and others donated some of their time and materials to complete the renovation.