I am not a student at the Northern Illinois University.... but I knew a few kids from my high school who went there...

When I heard about the NIU shootings my heart stopped I reached the nearest newspaper and quickly rustled through the pages to find the article... I madly searched for names of the victims but they weren't there... later I searched for articles online and went on facebook to find out what I could... I hoped so much I would find no bad news about any people I knew... then I found an article with the victims names... reluctantly I realized that among them was Catalina "Cathy" Garcia aged 20 years old from Cicero... my heart sank... I only knew her vaguely but just the fact that our lives had crossed paths at school made me feel so sad... then I remembered that she was actually best friends with one of my friends and soccer teammates... Its so sad to know that these kind of things happen... It makes me wonder how something like this could have been prevented, why do they have to happen?

I spoke with my mom on the phone and she asked me if I had know Cathy, she also told me that back home in Cicero they had been talking a lot about Cathy and they even interviewed her parents... Its nice to know that everyone has been so supportive of her family and of the school... lots of us former classmates have been talking a lot about it... My mom mentioned how sad it is that it's usually the good who die young... tragedies like this always seem to happen to people who have something going for them, who have a bright future... that is what makes a lot of things so tragic... and guess that makes sense... Cathy was going to school cause she wanted to be a teacher, she loved working with kids... although I can't really say much about her since I wasn't too close with her I can say she was a good kid with a bright future ahead of her and with lots of friends and family behind her back...

As of right now it all seems a bit surreal to me... like I'm going to wake up and realized that it was all a dream but I think it's all starting to sink in... then I think I will break down and cry...

My thoughts are with Cathy's friends and family in this difficult time, as well as the families of the other victims...

Hopefully... Someday we can bring an end to tragedies such as these...

More on Cathy
In Memory of Cathy, Facebook Group