The girl Westfield High School students knew as their beautiful dancer will dance no more. Reema Samaha, a freshman at Virginia Tech, was among the 33 people who died in the shootings there on April 16.
The 2006 graduate of Westfield High School was a dancer and actively involved in the school's tight-knit theater department, according to a spokesperson for the school.
"She had all this energy," said Cheryl Cordingley, a freshman at Virginia Tech who graduated from Westfield with Samaha and was in theater classes with her. "She always had something positive to say or do," Cordingley said.
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"One of the people killed, Reema Samaha, was my student.
She was a lovely girl with a luminous smile. She somehow gave the impression of being completely open, but also completely capable of hiding complexities unimagined by those around her.
When she spoke up in class others followed her example. Once she admitted sheepishly that she hadn't done the day's assigned reading, yet went on to be one of the most valuable and insightful contributors to the discussion.
She was a dancer. I envied her abdominals.
I'm looking at an in-class assignment she completed with a small group of peers. The class was discussing the role of mythology in modern culture and I challenged the groups to create a modern myth. Reema delightedly egged on the group as they created a silly story about chocolate milk coming from chocolate cows secretly raised on Colombian dairy farms. I can hear her giggling as I read her neat, exact printing on the plain sheet of college ruled paper. She did not know how to spell "distributor."
I would give everything I own to have the opportunity to correct that sloppy spelling again, to scold her for being late to class, to forgive her for both in an instant when she smiled.
She deserved better than my tutelage, better than to die on the floor of some nameless classroom, better than any of us could give her. I know she believed in a God and an afterlife. Perhaps she is in a better place, beyond pain and fear, and the events of April 16 were no more than a brief snarl in the thread of her life.
She is gone. That is tragedy enough for a lifetime."
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"Captivating. She was just beautiful and when you watched her on stage, I thought she was one of the most gorgeous girls in the world inside and out." - Lauren Walter, school friend
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"...completely unique in every way. She always wanted to be unique. Always wanted to be unique. Always had a unique flair." - Omar Samaha, brother
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"One of my best friends knew her and I just listened to him cry on the phone. I know she must have been a wonderful person. I hope that she is in a better place now along with all the other victims." - posted by Kinsley Stofft
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"Reema was a student, in Fall 2006, in a course I teach at Virginia Tech. Unfailingly gracious, this lovely, elegant young woman was a good and dedicated student. She presented an excellent project on dance in Middle Eastern culture for my course. Her passing has made the tragedy at my campus personal for me. I would like her family to know how highly I thought of Reema, that she is one student (of the many I have taught) who stood out, and whom I remember. Whom I will remember. My thoughts are with her family."
— Posted by Suchitra Samanta
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Rest in peace Reema…you were once my partner for one of the activities that we did at your grade/middle school and you were the nicest and funiest partner I ever had…I never forgot that. You paid attention to me you didnt just sit there at talk to your friends. I was upset to hear the news that you were put to death in the shooting. You will remain in my prayers. God bless you!
— Posted by Juliana
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http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/reema-samaha/~~~~~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9YX98BnAPc
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