It was a long eight years, before Lisa Hamp, a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting, sought help for emotional trauma.

Hamp shared her story with Slippery Rock students Wednesday in the theater of the Smith Student Center about the moments in the classroom, in the aftermath and in recovery from the day that changed her life.

Hamp said April 16, 2007, felt like any other day.

“It was cold and snowy,” she said. “It was a spring storm, like today.”

The shooter, senior student Seung-Hui Cho, killed 30 people and injured 23 more before committing suicide. Cho killed his first two victims in a campus dorm at about 8:45 a.m.

Hamp was waking up for the day and getting ready for classes.

“Up until this time, I had never had a hard challenge,” she said. “I didn't think about safety. I took it for granted.”

After telling the SRU students about her recovery, she told them how they could make a difference in their own safety with the right kind of education. She works with a nonprofit, Safe and Sound Schools, that focuses on active shooter planning.

She said good communication was something she and her classmates did that saved their lives. Good communication is telling people what's going on, but discretely so as not to draw the attention of the shooter, she said.

A full story appears in the Butler Eagle.