Austin Cloyd

Austin Michelle Cloyd was a compassionate and ambitious 18-year-old with a clear vision for her future: to work for the United Nations and foster global peace. A first-year student at Virginia Tech, she lived her life with purpose and a profound dedication to serving others. Those who knew her remembered a tall, striking young woman with red hair and a bright, ever-present smile that could lift up everyone around her. Her former church mentor, Martha Harter, said, "She was the kindest person. She was always sensitive and caring about other people... There was not a mean bone in that girl's body."

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Austin grew up in a series of university towns as her family moved for her father's academic career. After living in Indiana, Texas, and Illinois, the family settled in Blacksburg, Virginia, in 2005 when her father, Bryan Cloyd, became a professor of accounting at Virginia Tech. Austin graduated with honors from Blacksburg High School in 2006 and eagerly began her studies at the university. She was a dean's list student in the honors program, pursuing a challenging double major in international studies and French with a minor in environmental policy. She was already an officer in the university's International Relations Organization and an active participant in the Model U.N. program. An avid athlete, she had excelled at both basketball and volleyball in high school.

Austin’s deep-seated desire to help others was most evident in her volunteer work. For four consecutive summers, she dedicated her time to the Appalachian Service Project, a Christian ministry that renovates homes for low-income families. She loved the work, and her favorite task was roofing. This experience was so transformative that she and her mother, Renee, co-founded a similar program in their former hometown of Champaign, Illinois, called the Champaign Urban Service Project. Austin also loved working with children, teaching preschoolers how to swim, assisting with vacation Bible school, and working as a lifeguard at the Virginia Tech student recreation center, where she was recognized as an outstanding employee.

On the morning of April 16, 2007, Austin was in her French class in Room 211 of Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus. Her father was teaching in a classroom building just a short distance away. That morning, a 23-year-old undergraduate student, Seung-Hui Cho, began a rampage across the campus armed with two pistols. After an initial attack at a residence hall, he moved to Norris Hall, where he shot and killed 30 people before taking his own life. Austin was one of 11 students in her French class who died, along with her professor.

In the chaotic hours that followed the shooting, Austin’s parents frantically tried to reach her. When they couldn't, they began a desperate search, checking local hospitals in Blacksburg and nearby Roanoke. By Tuesday morning, more than 24 hours after the attack began, the family was at a center for those with missing relatives when authorities provided them with a photograph to identify their daughter. "Austin was the most wonderful daughter in the world," her father later said.

Because the perpetrator died by suicide at the scene, the investigation by the Virginia Tech Police Department concluded without any arrests. The shooting, which claimed the lives of 32 students and faculty members and wounded many others, remains one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history. The victims, including Austin, were awarded their degrees posthumously by the university.

In the years since her death, Austin Cloyd’s legacy of service and compassion has continued to inspire others. Her family requested that memorial donations be made to the Appalachian Service Project, which received nearly $100,000 in her name. Virginia Tech established the Austin Michelle Cloyd Social Justice Scholarship, which provides financial aid to students pursuing social justice-focused activities like internships, study abroad programs, and service-learning. An annual day of service called "Austin's Day" is held in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to continue the community work she was so passionate about. Her parents have honored her memory by participating in service projects with Virginia Tech students, carrying on the work their daughter loved. A friend captured her enduring impact, stating, "People want to take up the mantle to continue to do the deeds that she would be doing if she were here."