The campus community gathered together yesterday during memorial services held at Memorial Chapel and McKeldin Mall to show solidarity with students at Virginia Tech and to remember the victims who died there Monday.From noon to 2 p.m. yesterday, the Memorial Chapel held open prayer services in the West Chapel, where mourners came to pray, cry and remember those involved in the tragedy. In all, 33 students and faculty lost their lives, when 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui opened fire in the West Ambler Johnston Hall and the Norris Hall science and engineering building early Monday morning.A heavy silence enveloped the West Chapel yesterday, as a stream of students and faculty made their way to the wooden pews with languished faces buried in interlocked hands. The Episcopalian chaplain, Peter Antoci, led the prayer services and invited those present to sign a remembrance book and banner for the Hokies.”The tragedy of Virginia Tech is one of those things that bests our ability to comprehend our lives,” Antoci said. “As you look around for something to help put some perspective remember – we are not alone.”Later that day, a candlelight vigil organized by the Student Government Association united hundreds of students and faculty, as they came together to share their thoughts.”We want to show that UMD students care deeply about what’s happened,” Simson said. “We want to show we are strong and united in this time of mourning.”Donning the orange and burgundy of Virginia Tech, students huddled in the cold around an outdoor podium where university President Dan Mote and university chaplains from different faiths prayed for the victims and their families.”In times of great tragedy,” Mote said. “The bonds of humanity are a powerful force. … We are here because of our humanity.”SGA Vice President of Academic Affairs Melissa Morales closed the service with a letter of thanks from her brother Javier Morales, a freshman building construction major at Virginia Tech.”First and foremost, thank you,” Javier Morales wrote. “Last week we were rivals on a court, enemies on a field, and today we are all one, we are college students, we are friends, we are family, we are Hokies.”As the sky darkened, the remorseful glow of candles mirrored the sentiments of students who expressed shocked at the carnage that unfolded in Blacksburg, Va.”I couldn’t imagine being in that classroom when [Cho] opened fire,” senior criminal justice major Maureen Costello said after she signed a banner of remembrance that will be sent to Virginia Tech at the end of this week. “What would make someone do that?”Junior neurophysics major James Liu said he was deeply moved by the tragedy. Despite the fact he did not know anyone personally, Liu said the aftermath of the massacre is far-reaching and relevant to all college students.”It’s our peers. This is our generation,” Liu said. “This affects all of us, and I wish there was something I could do to help.”Not everyone mourning the loss of life at Blacksburg is so far removed.Junior aerospace engineering major Vincent Posbic said his cousin, Virginia Tech freshman Reema Samaha, was sitting in her French class when the shooter entered and began firing, killing she and several of her classmates.Posbic said he knew immediately that Reema was gone when he received a call from his mother and heard his sisters sobbing on the other end.”I was a wreck from then on,” Posbic said in a statement. “My body immediately tensed up and my breathing and heart rate shot up. It felt like I was having a heart attack.”Sophomore Kristofer Ghadry, a family friend, said his yearly trip to Lebanon with Samaha’s family will not be same now that she’s gone. Ghadry said they had been close since childhood.”The whole family dynamic has changed,” Ghadry said. “I don’t understand why. Reema deserved to live out her life.”Ghadry and Posbic both called Samaha a “beautiful soul.””She brightened up a room every time she walked into one,” said Posbic. “She has the most beautiful smile, and it was always available to cheer you up.”Junior economic and cultural resources major Jillian Anwah also knew Samaha from when they attended Westfield High School in Centreville, Va., the same school Cho, the suspected gunman, attended. Another high school friend, Erin Peterson was in the same French class when it was sprayed with bullets.Anwah said she learned that her friends had been killed by their high school classmate on Facebook.”It was shocking,” Anwah said. “I had heard that Erin had been shot but was fine. I thought she was OK.””All I can say about Erin is how much I miss and love her,” she added. “She is really going to be missed.”