Feature: Survivor Plans Next Move

To the untrained eye, the game of chess may appear simple--clearly defined, unsurprising and perhaps even a bit boring.

That same untrained eye may also take too quick of a glance at the Chess Club of Virginia Tech president and characterize him in the same way. Perhaps it’s his often seemingly expressionless face, his unimposing frame or maybe it’s his soft spoken tone that doesn’t catch people’s immediate attention.

But for those that know Derek O’Dell, a junior who nearly a year ago survived the tragedy on April 16, probably have as difficult a time defining him as they do beating him in a game of chess.

One could perhaps best draw a correlation between O’Dell and the fictional wizard Harry Potter—both seem quite ordinary on the outside but are actually quite extraordinary--yet neither of them ever seek attention.

Both received some level of unwanted fame; however, that is where the comparison stops. While Potter merely escaped from death through inaction, O’Dell faced the crisis with his furiously analytical mind and calm demeanor that he has used in so many victories of speed chess.

“When you’re in a situation like that, you’re just focused on survival…or you’re going to die,” O’Dell said. “I just tried to think of everything possible between jumping out the windows, running out of the building or barricading the door. At the same time I dialed 911 and yelled at a classmate to throw my shoe up to me I had lost incase we had to run.”

Even after being shot twice in the arm, O’Dell led three other students in an effort to barricade the door—twice it thwarted the shooter’s attempt to re-enter the room as he unloaded gunfire into the door.

The actions and poise O’Dell executed in his Norris Hall classroom on that now infamous, snow flurried Monday morning in April unquestionably helped save the lives of himself and others.

However, this wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last time O’Dell has tried to save a life. One could even draw a comparison between the story on how he decided he wanted to become a veterinarian and the April 16 situation it seems he was almost born to handle.

When O’Dell was only nine years old in Roanoke County, he saw a dog that had been the victim of a hit and run.

“There wasn’t much I could do in that situation,” O’Dell said. “I was the only one around and it was just lying there. That gave me the aspirations that I wanted to become a veterinarian that next time I would be able to help. As a veterinarian, I can give back to society in that way.”

It seems as though O’Dell always has giving back as one of his main agendas. Aside from his busy academic life as a biological sciences major, O’Dell is working on a number of April 16 projects—all while trying to maintain a fair amount of normalcy.

He has paired up with his cousin, Robert O’Dell, to write a book on school shootings and his experience on April 16. O’Dell wants Robert’s journalism experience as a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star.

Of course all the proceeds will go into a charity in preventing school violence. The two have already written a few chapters and O’Dell said he hopes they will find a publisher by next October.

O’Dell has also put together a couple of chess tournaments to raise money. O’Dell’s Hokie Memorial Open raised $1,500 that they donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund back in October.

He is also in charge of a chess program as an event in the upcoming anniversary. O’Dell said it’s part of a series of events emphasizing quiet reflection that also includes meditation and poetry

O’Dell and other victims are trying to reach a settlement with the Commonwealth of Virginia. As part of the settlement, the group is pushing for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to re-open for another five years and for another fund to open that would give grant money to universities that are trying to implement school safety programs.

Despite all of the giving back he is trying to accomplish, O’Dell knows the anniversary will be a special day for him as well. He said that he’s filled with mixed emotions as his anticipation for the day builds. O’Dell is looking forward to the morning memorial and the candlelight vigil.

“It’s a difficult time but it will be good to see all the families again. It will be good to see them again and it will be good for them to see how we [the injured students] are doing,” O’Dell said. “And the vigil was so special last year. It will be a way to show everyone that Hokie Nation is still strong.”

As the year anniversary of the tragedy approaches, O’Dell knows the attention of the media and the public at large outside of the Virginia Tech community will be focused back in on the events of last year and what has happened since.

O’Dell carries with him some mixed views on what he believed the coverage was like last year and what it could be like this year.

“I think there’s a lot of sensationalism in the media,” O’Dell said. “For print it’s ‘dial up that quote’ and for broadcast media it’s ‘get that perfect shot’. It seems like there’s a lack of sincerity but unfortunately in a way that’s what the job dictates now.”

Although O’Dell may seem blunt in his criticism of the media, he believes some of the April 16 media coverage was both crucial in his early healing and for the community at large. O’Dell was one of the first students inside Norris to speak with the media. He said that after three hours of painful silence in his hospital bed that afternoon, he was ready to let it all out.

While the media may have helped him in a personal way early on, O’Dell realized it could be used as a tool to accomplish much grander messages.

“It brings everyone to light on how we’re doing that watched the tragedy,” O’Dell said. “More importantly, it can educate people on what they can do to help whether it is through the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund or learning how to prevent school violence so something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Sadly, an event which O’Dell calls “eerily similar” did happen again. On February 14, a gunman entered a classroom at Northern Illinois University, killing five people and injuring 18 before taking his own life.

“At first it brought up some uneasy memories of my own but those went away quickly because I knew what they were all going through and just felt for them,” O’Dell said. “But I still couldn’t watch more than 15 minutes of the coverage.”

Despite such a similar tragedy occurring not long after April 16, O’Dell believes that the tragedy at Virginia Tech will play a significant role in helping to prevent such incidents in the future.

Solutions such as implementing alert systems, increasing funding toward security, and examining the general safety issues at schools are all things that are now being done more rigorously at colleges and universities around the nation. O’Dell believes the most important long term issue to tackle is in regards to mental health.

“My dad graduated from MIT which has one of the highest suicide rates in the country,” O’Dell said. “People need to understand that college is a difficult transitional period for students moving into adulthood and we need to give them the help that they need.”

O’Dell doesn’t believe that mental health records should be revealed in the admissions process but thinks those students with mental health issues need to be well informed on some of the services a university may provide. O’Dell said the tragedy brought more awareness and importance to Cook Counseling at Tech and hopes the same will result at other universities.

With so many thoughts, opinions, ideas and plans O’Dell attempts to voice and carry out, his own personal healing at times seems to be an afterthought.

Still he lacks no expression on the subject. O’Dell credits his four-year girlfriend Laura Jones, a sophomore at Tech, and his once overprotective parents for helping him get through the hardships of the past year. But it is perhaps his tremendous faith in one concept of his religion that many people would find most remarkable.

“I was raised Catholic and a main theme in the church is forgiveness, repentance and moving on,” O’Dell said. “Just trying to forgive what [the shooter] did…it’s a going to be a long journey but we’re going along that path.”

After each church session, O’Dell makes a point to stop by the memorial for a little while. He said that it is a way he can spiritually connect with all of them at once.

As he walks away, O’Dell must be thinking of the motto that he now says he lives by each day. Dean Gerhardt Schurig of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine urged O’Dell and others to, “Not let a tragedy define you but be defined by your response to it.”

That may be the reason why defining O’Dell is so difficult. He simply lives out each day and lets his actions define who he is—actions not easily summed up with words.

And so far, this chess ace is making the right moves.