kelly pastirik

• Teacher of preschool in Williamsburg, VA • Teaching since 1991 throughout the state of VA • Mother of one boy and wife of one husband

[Daily Press @Daily_Press]

This 80-year-old Newport News restaurant delivers something hard to find: community: https://t.co/8WMSfiILp8

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

He told his students to go to the windows.
Get out. Jump if you have to.
Then Liviu Librescu walked to the classroom door and pressed his body against it.
He was 76 years old. He weighed 140 lbs
The gunman was in the hallway.
It was April 16, 2007. A Monday morning. Solid mechanics class at Virginia Tech, Room 204. Twenty-two students, most of them 19 or 20 years old.
At 9:45 AM, gunshots echoed through Norris Hall. Room by room, the shooter was working his way down the corridor.
Liviu heard it. He understood immediately.
He had survived the Holocaust. He had survived a labor camp. He had spent decades living under Communist oppression. He knew exactly what evil sounded like.
He told his students to escape through the windows. Second floor — it was a drop, but they'd survive. Then he walked to the door and held it shut with his body.
The shooter tried to force it open. It wouldn't move.
He fired through the door. Wood splintered. Bullets came through.
Liviu stayed.
Behind him, students were climbing out the windows. Dropping to the ground. Running. One by one, all twenty-two of them got out.
The shooter kept firing through the door.
Liviu held it shut until every student was safe.
Then the bullets killed him.
When police arrived, they found his body at the door.
All 22 of his students survived. Not one was injured.
Liviu Librescu was born on August 18, 1930, in Ploiești, Romania.
He was Jewish. In 1941, when he was eleven years old, Romanian authorities sent him and his family to a labor camp. His father died there. Liviu survived. When the war ended, he was fifteen.
He went back to school. Studied engineering. Earned a doctorate from the University of Bucharest.
But Communist Romania had no interest in allowing a Jewish intellectual to succeed. He was blocked from academic positions. Passed over for jobs he deserved. He applied to emigrate. The government kept refusing.
Finally, in 1978 when Liviu was 48 years old — Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened. Romania let him go.
He had spent most of his adult life trapped in a country that didn't want him.
In Israel, he taught at Tel Aviv University. Published over 300 papers. Became an international expert in aeroelasticity — the science of how air flows over aircraft wings.
In 1985, Virginia Tech offered him a position. He moved to Blacksburg, Virginia. He taught there for 22 years. His students loved him — demanding but kind, high standards, genuine care.
He was still teaching full-time at 76. Still publishing research. Still showing up every Monday morning for solid mechanics.
April 16 was the first day of Passover — the Jewish holiday celebrating liberation from slavery and oppression.
Liviu Librescu died on the day his tradition sets aside to celebrate freedom.
He spent his entire life escaping death and oppression by luck, by persistence, by the intervention of others. And on his last morning, he chose to stand at a door so that twenty-two young people could have the future he had fought so hard to reach.
He could have run. He could have hidden. He could have climbed out a window with his students.
He chose to stay.
The Virginia Tech shooting killed 32 people that day — the deadliest school shooting in American history at the time.
Room 204 had zero casualties.
Because a 76-year-old Holocaust survivor held a door with his body until every student behind him was gone.
His funeral was held in Israel. Students from Virginia Tech flew across the ocean to honor him. The Israeli government awarded him the Star of David Medal posthumously. Virginia Tech named a scholarship in his memory.
His son said his father died the way he lived — protecting others.
A man who survived everything evil threw at him for 76 years.
On his last day, he made sure 22 kids survived too.
Professor Liviu Librescu. August 18, 1930 — April 16, 2007.
Holocaust survivor. Labor camp survivor.
302 published papers. 22 years at Virginia Tech.
22 students out the window.
He held the door.

[chanelle 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆 ❁ 𓂆 🔻 @aitufour]

The only person ever to win individual immunity, hoh, and veto #bb28

[Chuck D @MrChuckD]

When i was 15 drawing heroes kept me away from wasting my time when I got tired of hanging around streets

[🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🕉Stevie Van Zandt☮️💙 @StevieVanZandt]

Taken for granted back then. It's time to recognize the greatness of this.

[Ice Cube @icecube]

Putting up fliers everywhere cause Everyday’s Friday is almost here.

[Keenan Carter Sr. @DLRunStoppers]

Happy 16th Birthday to my son @KTCarterJR11 We love you man. Keep being a great role model on and off the field love seeing your growth. @MrsDLRunStopper @PeytonCarter011

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Today in 1978, this patient dies after you negligently leave him at the accident scene in order to drink some Tang and eat a Pop-Tart. You later settle the wrongful death lawsuit brought by his Fisher-Price family with Monopoly money.

[BuffaloRon @BuffaloRon]

Me: I'm going to eat healthy

Lettuce: I'm going to give you explosive diarrhea

Oreos in the pantry: I would never do that to you

[Interesting things @awkwardgoogle]

A ladybug's takeoff is way more dramatic than you think

[Shane Mettlen @Shane_DNRSports]

JMU has issued a Request for Proposal for Public/Private partnership (PPEA) for a massive mid-campus project that would expand Bridgeforth Stadium, replace the FB operations center, add student housing & a mixed-use entertainment district, among other things...

[John Riggins @riggo44]

I want everyone to know my deep sense of gratitude to Josh Harris and the entire Burgundy and Gold organization for this honor.  But this recognition is not for me alone. 

It should be shared with my forever teammates, coaches, and ultimately YOU, the fans.

You and I are forever tied to 44

You gave me breath

I gave you heart.

And I hope more laughs than tears.

~ Riggo

[Chicago Cubs @Cubs]

It's a Hall of Famer's birthday today.🎈

Happy birthday, Andre!

[Erling Haaland @Erling]

Here come the… Vikings 🇳🇴👊🏻

[Henry Winkler @hwinkler4real]

A GREAT Plan !!!!

[WAVY TV 10 @WAVY_News]

A Woodside High School social studies teacher has received a $24,000 fellowship to help teach the U.S. Constitution at the secondary level. https://t.co/Hx68UQl90l

[JMU Alumni Assoc. @JMUAlumni]

Grab your purple and gold and join the Williamsburg Dukes for a summer night of baseball, friends, and JMU spirit!

We'll be cheering on the Peninsula Pilots as they take on the Zebulon Devil Dogs on Thursday, July 16 at 7:00 PM.

Register: https://t.co/ce9Yc0kRwy

[Duran Duran @duranduran]

“The thing is, we’re never satisfied,” says John Taylor, flashing a lupine grin. “We’re not big on laurels in this band. We’re always pushing to do bigger and better, and there’s still a belief that we have it in us.” https://t.co/quAcI8FFrm

[Ben DiNucci @B_DiNucci6]

Maybe this DiNucci will have a better chance against the Eagles in 2050

Stay tuned …

[Ben DiNucci @B_DiNucci6]

The only song worse than “Country Roads” is “Sweet Caroline”

I said it , both stink , always will

There a million other songs you could play after winning a World Cup match and you pick country roads ?!? Come on