Anyone wishing to share their experiences concerning Feb. 14 may get the chance soon.

E. Taylor Atkins, director of undergraduate studies in the history department, is requiring his students in HIST 497 and 597 to conduct interviews with those who wish to talk about their experiences concerning the shootings.

“Most history has been typically done by using old documents, but oral history is interviewing human people,” Atkins said. “Ideally, it’s more like a conversation.”

Atkins wished to contribute to the healing process, and said this was a good way to do that while teaching his students.

“I was wondering what we as historians had to offer to help NIU heal,” Atkins said. “Since I’ve been teaching this oral history class, it seemed to be a good way to help the campus heal, but also to give the class hands-on research.”

While Atkins’ course gives his students an opportunity to conduct oral history research, it will also allow the NIU community to create its own Feb. 14 time capsule.

“We want to find out how people are structuring their own personal narratives around the shooting and [find] really the proper way to remember and commemorate the event,” said Atkins.

Students enrolled in HIST 497 feel that the project will make a positive impact on the community.

“I feel very positive about it,” said Julie Edmunds, a graduate student pursuing her master’s in anthropology and one of Atkins’ students. “We talked about the opportunity for people to tell their stories, and not just the people that would automatically come to mind. My first thought [for the project] was students in Cole Hall – the project is bigger than that.”

The project is not only focused on students who were present in Cole during the shootings but also emergency personnel and parents who may have driven out to NIU to take their student home.

“I think this will bring to light the holistic effect it had on the NIU community – meaning that when this project is done, we could have a collection of stories from many angles,” Edmunds said.

The students conducting the research feel that it is important to reach anyone who had any ties to the tragedy, no matter how small the connection.

“More than the community was affected,” said Sami Long, a member of the class and graduate student pursuing a master’s in history. “My personal interest is to include the families. They’re important because they cast a perspective that’s important to the situation.”

All the interviews will be recorded via audio or video and turned over to University Archives, so that future historians can utilize them, Atkins said.