MATT ROBLES/Arizona Daily Wildcat College of Nursing students and members of Student Nurses at UA Amelia Sieger, left, SNUA President Cheri Roy, SNUA Health Care Career Day Director Molly Abrahams, and SNUA Vice President Monica Munoz, right, look at the memorial quilt made in memory of those who died in the shooting last year.

Students fund scholarship in memory of shootings

Students in the College of Nursing are honoring the memory of three professors who were killed by a former student two years ago by raising money to contribute to a scholarship in memory of the professors.

On Oct. 28, 2002, Robert S. Flores Jr., a student who was distraught over failing grades and problems at home, entered the office of professor Robin E. Rogers and shot her multiple times, killing her. He then moved to a classroom full of students taking a midterm and shot and killed professors Barbara Monroe and Cheryl McGaffic. After allowing the students to leave, Flores turned the gun on himself. It is considered the bloodiest day in UA history.

The Student Nurses at the University of Arizona is raffling off a quilt that was made to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the shootings last year, said Cheri Roy, SNUA president.

"This is something that we can do this year to make it known that we still honor (Rogers, McGaffic and Monroe)," Roy said. "It was a way that people who didn't even know them could show they cared."

The quilt, which measures about 6 feet by 7 feet, is made up of squares that were signed by participants in last year's memorial 5K walk. The quilt is on display on the first floor of the College of Nursing outside the Student Affairs office, Roy said. Students and staff in any college and members of the community are encouraged to participate in the raffle, she said.

All of the earnings from the raffle will be donated to the Nursing Faculty Memorial Scholarship Endowment, Roy said. The scholarship is awarded once a year to an undergraduate nursing student. This year's award was $2,000.

SNUA's goal is to raise $2,000 to donate to the scholarship fund, Roy said. She said SNUA reached that goal based on the value of the quilt and the number of students they hope will participate.

Vickie Radoye, assistant dean for student affairs in the College of Nursing, said it is fitting that the proceeds of the quilt raffle will go to the scholarship to benefit undergraduate students. She said the three professors all taught undergraduates and "were very much a part of our undergraduate program."

Molly Abrahams, a third-semester nursing student and member of SNUA, volunteered her mother to sew the quilt together. It took her three days, Abrahams said.

"It's keeping the memory of the instructors alive," Abrahams said. "These women were all involved not just in the school, but in the community itself. Their lives affected everyone."

Fourth-semester nursing student Analee Byers said the day of the shooting "was a really hard day." Rogers was Byers' academic adviser and one of Byers' roommates was in the classroom where Flores shot Monroe and McGaffic.

"She always called when she was excited about a test or something," Byers said about her roommate. Byers said when her phone rang that morning, she assumed that's what the call was about.

"(My roommate) said, 'Something's happened. I just want you to know I'm safe,'" Byers said.

Byers said in the years since the shootings, students in the College of Nursing have received more support for what she said is a "very time-consuming and mentally challenging" field.

"They're more sensitive to the needs of students, the emotional stress of nursing," she said.

Although the shootings took place on one small corner of campus, the effects of that day have been felt throughout the university ever since.

"I was shocked that a person would do something so irrational and so unjust and unfair," said Amanda Leister, senior majoring in agricultural economics and Spanish.

Leister said that in the two years following the tragedy, she has noticed a difference in the way that students voice their frustrations about classes and professors.

"Even if you say something joking around, you have to think twice about it," Leister said. "People are more aware of what they say."

Though two years have passed, members of the College of Nursing and other students feel it is important to remember Monroe, Rogers and McGaffic, and everything their lives stood for.

"Even though they only had a small number of students, they deserve the respect and remembrance of all students," Leister said.

Byers said Monroe, Rogers and McGaffic were great professors because they pushed their students to be the best they could be.

"The only way we can really move forward is by remembering our past and by honoring those who've done great things for us like those three teachers," Byers said. "It saddens me that they had to suffer this great consequence for being a good teacher."

Through the tragedy of the murders, the students and faculty of the College of Nursing have grown closer.

"As a college we certainly have a very strong community," Radoye said. "Our commitment to each other has deepened since two years ago."

The winner of the quilt will be able to decide whether they want to keep it or donate it back to the college to be kept on display, Roy said.

The quilt will be on display at the College of Nursing until Monday at 7 a.m., when SNUA will pick the winner at its monthly meeting, Roy said.

The quilt will also be displayed from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Arizona Health Sciences Center's Homecoming tent on the UA Mall, Roy said.

Raffle tickets can be purchased at the AHSC Homecoming tent, the College of Nursing Student Affairs office or by e-mailing snua@nursing.arizona.edu. One ticket costs $5 and five tickets cost $20.