I had the privilege of knowing Ryan Clark. It was an honor to be able to say I lost a good friend. Ryan was a super personable guy who was always there to make me smile. I will miss you forever Ryan.

I knew Ryan Clark who was killed in the Virginia Tech shootings. I first met him over the summer at Camp Big Heart which is a camp for those with special needs. He was one of the first people to come up and introduce himself to me. I never saw him without a smile and he worked miracles with the campers. Ryan was a truly good person and it's sad that such bad things can happen to good people. Ryan, keep heaven smiling.

Stack was one of the coolest guys you could ever meet. Easy to be around and their when you needed him.

I've known and loved Ryan since the fall of 1998, our freshman year at LHS. His smile and laugh, his giving spirit, his openness in accepting everyone for who they were not who he thought they should be, his love for his family and friends. He was one of the best people this world had to give. We were truly blessed to have borrowed Ryan from God this long, but I will always wish we'd had him longer. Ryan will always be in my heart.

Camp Big Heart is only two weeks long during the summertime, but it's amazing how close you become to the people you work with there in just those two weeks year after year. We are more than just friends, we are family. Ryan has been part of our family for 7 or 8 years and I can't imagine working at camp this year without him. I know it's going to be hard for all of us.

I love you so much, Ryan Clark! You have changed so many people's lives, especially mine, so I guess the time was right even though we weren't ready for it to be. You have served your purpose. As I take my staff breaks this year, I will remember the times you were there with me at our spot having a picnic and talking about how funny our campers were that week. We love you and will ALWAYS remember you!

I knew Ryan Clark. We worked together in the Imaginarium at Virginia Tech and we were co-workers in Residence Life. I used to be excited to go to work because I knew he would be there. He was a ray of sunshine with a great laugh and a beautiful smile. His personality could fill up a room with no one else in it. We shared lots of laughs and he always seemed to know what I was thinking even if I didn't say a word. He was smart, kind and thoughtful...just a wonderful person. I will miss him dearly. We have truly lost a great person.

Ryan and I met during freshman orientation and our common bond was going to a school so far away from our homes. Similar to what every other person has said about him so far, he made friends so quickly. Maybe it was because he was so easy to connect with. You meet him for the first time, and you feel like he was the kind of guy you could grow up with in your hometown.

And even after we lost touch with one another, going through college in our separate ways, we could still walk on the drill field or in the halls with a smile and a quick catch-me-up convo. It was the same kind of experience I had with him just over a month ago in Columbus, Ohio for the NCAA basketball tournament. We were surprised to run into each other so far away from home (because Blacksburg is home, no matter where you're from). We said our hellos and promised to keep in touch a little better. I introduced him to my dad, another Hokie. We laughed for a moment at the coincidence and when his taxi pulled along the curb to pick up he and his group of friends, we said our goodbyes. We said our goodbyes without realizing just how fleeting such moments (and friends) can be.

Hi Ryan, i know ur not here but u wont be forgotten... To ur family and friends that u left behind we all will miss ya and wont stop thinking bout ya.... i remember when i first me ryan @ a VT game he seemed to know pretty much a lot from his time and past...he was a great person even tho we only had like an hour or 2 together to sit and talk bout some things... they always say it don't take much to get to know some1 and everything bout them.... Ryan u will be missed and loved so hey keep going we will be their soon... keep it jamming and show some love from above. Take care. You will be remembered... troy

I worked with Ryan Clark at Camp Big Heart where we both spent part of our summers counseling kids and adults with special needs. At camp, Ryan was one of my closest friends. We had many inside jokes and spent a lot of time being silly and laughing. Ryan never had a frown on his face and even when something was bothering him he was only upset for a short time and moved back to his good old happy self. Ryan ran the dance/music program at camp and was constantly moving, singing and entertaining both the staff and campers. Ryan was very happy himself and was always working to make others happy. Camp Big Heart will never be the same without him and our camp community will bear the scars of the loss for many years to come. Ryan was a gift in the lives of people who met him. He will be missed forever.

I've known Ryan Clark for nearly 10 years, as only a handful of people do. We have worked together for the same number of years at Camp Big Heart, a camp for mentally and physically challenged children and adults. The bond between the staff and volunteers that work at this camp is one that can only be described as "Family." We grieve with Ryan's immediate family, including his twin brother, whom I've also had the privilege to work with and know well, for this great loss. Ryan will always be remembered by all that knew him for his kind heart, willingness to help and his fabulous sense of humor. I can not recall a time when I saw Ryan in a solemn mood. He made camp a better experience for both campers and staff by simply showing up year after year. His infectious laughter and spirit were contagious to all those that had the pleasure of his company. Ryan was an integral part of our camp family and his presence can never be replaced. He will never be forgotten and will always be missed.

I want to say I had the pleasure of knowing Stack for 4 years from the time I was a junior in college until I finished my M.A. in Communication at Virginia Tech. We met through the MVs, and I spent 4 wonderful years in the grace of his charm, wit, and love of life.

He didn't know the meaning of judgmental; he took you as a friend, and never asked how you were flippantly. He was all about service for others above himself. He was so very human, so very compassionate, and above all, the kind of person everyone needs in their life.

We've all been in so much pain over his meaningless death, but as our director, Dave McKee told me this afternoon on the phone, we shouldn't spend our time dwelling on his death, because there isn't a rhyme or reason. We should celebrate his life, and the lives of all of these amazing people we will have to find a way to go one without.

Ryan, you were one of our best, I got to watch you grow from an 18-year old kid into a young adult, and you are what I will aspire to for the rest of my days on this earth. Thank you for being there for all of us.

I had the privilege of working at Camp Big Heart for the past six summers with him. I remember my first year as a counselor, driving onto the campsite, and Ryan immediately coming over to the car to help me unload my things. He was an extremely outgoing person and made my first year at camp memorable and convinced me to come back the next summer. Now Camp Big Heart is my family, and our family is grieving deeply over his loss. He was our music director at Camp Big Heart, a camp for the mentally disabled, and that activity will never be the same. It will only be a matter of time when we get there this summer when campers start asking about him. That is how unforgettable he is. His charisma and passion for our campers is admirable and he was an amazing person to look up to.

On Monday, April 16th the world lost one of the best people I have ever had the privilege to know in my entire life. Among other invaluable Virginia Tech HOKIES that have been stolen from Hokie Nation, I was honored enough to know Ryan ‘Stack’ Clark. I don’t want anyone to remember him as just “that RA in West AJ” during the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Because Stack was more than that to everybody. He was an RA, a VTCKI’er, a son, a Marching Virginian, a brother, a friend, a ball of spirit, a loud mouth, a boyfriend, an incredibly gifted and talented student, a HW clubber, a confidant, a sarcastic icebreaker, an employee, a hokie, and an all around inspiration among other things that I could go on listing forever.

And after all of this has happened I’m just learning that Stack has touched the lives of more people than I’ll ever know. But that is his gift. He has the ability to walk into a room of 50 people and not judge anyone but form close connections with all of them and that is simply amazing. I met Stack in the Fall of 2003 at Virginia Tech. He was a prospective member of Circle K International at Virginia Tech (VTCKI) and we were waiting for the project chair to come pick us up to go and tutor elementary, middle school, and high school students in Christiansburg, Virginia. I didn’t even know Stack well at this point but I knew that he had been assigned as one of my “Sponsees” through VTCKI’s Sponsor/Sponsee program that paired old members with new members and I knew I was in for a ride from that point forward. Stack was the best person to hang out with and talk to. He ALWAYS listened to what people had to say and always gave the best advice. And not just the advice that people want to hear, but the things that people needed to hear so that they could make the right decisions in life. Stack was one of the smartest people I knew as well; he was working on three majors at Virginia Tech and yet somehow had time to touch the lives of so many students on campus in other way or another. Virginia Tech expects academic excellence all year long; to even work on one major is a daunting task for students, I never quite figured out how Stack was working on three majors and not constantly locked away in his room.

Stack was also the most sarcastic person I knew, but in the best way possible. I knew when he would walk into the room because of his sarcastic humor. He would say something insane when entering and I wouldn’t even need to turn around to know “Stack is here!” Stack had the best laugh too! His laugh always made me want to laugh and smile and wonder how things could be just be so funny all at the same time. When Stack wasn’t making his impact on campus with Hokies, he loved kids. Although, he was involved with everything on campus he always made time to go to Homework Club, which is an after school program through Prices Fork Elementary in Blacksburg, Virginia. VTCKI sends members every Tuesday and Thursday to go and tutor the kids there. Even during stressful weeks at Virginia Tech when all of us were getting slammed with exams, and papers and tests, Stack would make the time to go to homework club, nothing was going to keep him away from helping others. Stack gave the absolute best hugs out of every friend that I know. These hugs would be really tight squeezes that never seemed to last long enough. Sometimes he would even pick people up when he hugged them and spin them around. Simply the best. Stack was my big little brother (because he’s much taller than I am but younger than I am). He was loud and proud and he’ll always be around. Because no one can forget him; he made connections with people in a way that I never knew was possible. In the aftermath of all of this everyone feels as if Stack was their best friend. And that’s because he made everyone feel so special; if you knew him for a day, a month, a year, you just felt like you had known him for all of your life.

After everything that has happened, I’m not most sad for myself because Stack’s time with us was cut extremely short. But I’m the saddest for the people that didn’t have a chance to meet him yet. I’m not sure how the world is going to go on with one less Ryan ‘Stack’ Clark in the world. But the ones that did have the chance to know him, if even for a minute, we are lucky ones.

Hi, my name is Sierra Robinson. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. And I am sending my deepest sympathy to the families of all of the students including Ryan because he came to my home town and help out in the most devastated neighborhood that Hurricane Katrina hit and for that, I am very grateful to have had someone like him come and help us get our lives back together and to the family, I'll leave you with these comforting words: HEAVEN HAS NO SORROW THAT GOD CAN NOT HEAL MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU.

Ryan Clark is a neighbor of mine. Although I am now working in New Mexico, my family remains in Martinez. He graduated two years ahead of my daughter going to Lakeside High School there. What a loss. A truly exemplary young man with a great future ahead of him, snuffed out in a stupid rage. I am truly saddened at the tragic loss his family must be experiencing. God bless you Ryan. We must solve the conundrum of privacy and necessary release of mental health issues to permit background checks to be effective in gun sales.

Ryan Clark was one of the finest RAs I have ever known. I worked with him for two years and didn't see him too often, but he always had a smile on his face and always wanted to know how you were doing. We miss you Stack!!!