Kristina Anderson founded the Koshka Foundation shortly after the Virginia Tech tragedy. The Koshka Foundation serves to educate, inform and promote school and community safety on every level.
The Koshka Foundation reaches out to youth as means of influencing change in security and peace initiatives. Ms. Anderson is co-founder of Students for Non-Violence, the student component to the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech.
Kristina hopes to encourage awareness concerning violence prevention through communicating her significant encounter with gun violence, as well as working and meeting others affected by irrational acts of aggression. Ms. Anderson has spoken and travelled internationally to speak at law enforcement conferences as well as private events to share her story.
Ms. Anderson maintains a passion for travel and foreign languages, speaking French and Russian. She has lived overseas previously in the Ukraine as well as France, where she was a primary school English teacher. Today Kristina Anderson works to commemorate the lives lost in a meaningful and positive way, as well the future of recovery for survivors.
Heidi Miller is a 2010 graduate of Virginia Tech. She graduated magna cum laude with dual degrees in International Studies and Geography with a French minor. Heidi was also in room 211 on April 16th and sustained multiple shots to leg. In the aftermath of the event, Heidi worked closely on the development of the Teach for Madame program at Virginia Tech that was created in memory of her French teacher. Heidi also worked on the Executive Committee for The Big Event-the largest day of community service for the university.
Since graduating from Tech, Heidi has worked as a high school English teacher in inner-city Philadelphia through the Teach for America program. Her high school has consistently been on the "persistently dangerous" list in the state of Pennsylvania. Heidi firmly believes in the power of education as a means for teaching and living out nonviolence principles.
Frederick Cook was in Solid Mechanics with Dr. Liviu Librescu on April 16, 2007, and escaped the shooting with many of his classmates by jumping from the second-story window. Fred completed his Masters in Engineering Mechanics in 2009, and currently resides in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he is the co-founder and CEO of Heyo, a social events startup company (http://heyo.com). Fred is an active runner and triathlete, and believes strongly in promoting non-violence through outreach and education