The students involved in the Nov. 4 shuttle bus accident during a Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences trip are returning to campus for the Spring semester.
Many spent the break catching up on last semester’s missed assignments and are now on track to start a new semester.
Pat Miller, a faculty spouse involved in the accident, was released on Wednesday afternoon.
Naomi Cruz, freshman animal science major from Richmond, returned to class for the first time since the accident on Tuesday. “I’m still in a walker and waiting to get off but I feel really good,” Cruz said.
Cruz endured several fractures and broken bones after being thrown 45 feet during the accident. She was released from the hospital Nov. 18 and was out of rehab by Dec. 15.
“They told me after my pelvic surgery that I would be in a wheelchair for four to five months and it’s been two months and I’m already almost off my walker,” Cruz said.
Since Cruz began her physical therapy, she said the doctors have been amazed at how little pain she has been experiencing. She said, throughout it all, she has tried to remain positive and her overall recovery has been good.
“It makes you realize the small things,” Cruz said. “Like when I stood up for the first time, it was a really big deal.”
Cruz said looking back at the videos and pictures of the accident coverage she could not believe she had survived.
“I never thought that I would be strong enough to go through something like that,” Cruz said. “I think I’m more humble and open to things because of it.”
Kendra Unamba, junior nursing major from Midlothian, still feels physical discomfort from the accident.
“I have to readjust the way I do things,” Unamba said. “I’m kind of ready for it to just be over and get back to normal.”
Unamba said she returned to school a week and a half after the accident and finished out her semester while others, like Anna Watson, attended class from home via Skype.
“I didn’t really want to come back as early as I did,” Unamba said. “But it’s cool to see people you don’t really know on campus who care about you and your wellbeing.”
Unamba said she is still processing what happened last semester.
“When I got back, I had to put it aside and concentrate on school, which made it kind of easier to handle because I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Unamba said. “This is the time where things are kind of slow with the beginning of the semester so I’ve been doing more stuff to deal with it emotionally now.”
For some, memories of the accident will go away as things die down, Unamba said. Others, especially people directly affected by it, will never forget.
“Everyone’s on this long journey, some people don’t have the casts and stuff but I wouldn’t necessarily say that they’re fully healed,” Unamba said. “Some of the ones without the visible injuries have the emotional part of it. Everyone’s on their own journey to full recovery.”