. We did n't think we were going to be able to hold it , '' she said . Watch Sheehan remember a day of horror Â '' Sheehan is now a sophomore at Virginia Tech . Like so many on campus , April 16 , 2007 , marks the worst day of her life , when Cho killed 32 students and professors in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history . Sheehan recently accompanied CNN to what is known as the Virginia Tech April 16 , 2007 Prevail Archive -- an office space on the edge of campus where mementoes sent from across the world are temporarily warehoused . The university is cataloging and documenting every item it can save in order to create a permanent collection as well as an online archive that the public can access . Take a tour of the archive Â '' Teddy bears , an American flag from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan , painted eggs , the hood of a race car , condolence posters signed by Koreans and a letter from President Bush are housed there . Thousands of other letters are also kept in the archive . `` This is
BLACKSBURG , Virginia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Erin Sheehan was a freshman last year when Seung-Hui Cho peeked through the door of her German class . The next hour of her life would become a struggle for survival . Erin Sheehan played dead while the Virginia Tech shooter went on a rampage . `` I still have trouble sleeping . '' `` The gunman entered my room . He shot my German teacher and then proceeded to shoot the students in the classroom pretty thoroughly , '' she said . Sheehan was only one of four students in the room not to get shot . She jumped on the floor and remained quiet while Cho went on his rampage . `` I thought if I played dead then he hopefully would think I was already hit . '' She listened as the killer left her Norris Hall classroom to attack another room . She and the other survivors barricaded the door to keep Cho from coming back . `` I tried to use a podium at the front of the classroom to block the door , because the gunman was shoving at the door and started firing through the door