Shortly after five students were shot to death at Northern Illinois University on Valentine's Day, students at Virginia Tech held support vigils, sent consoling letters and posted condolences on Web sites.

On the one-year anniversary of Virginia Tech's campus shooting that killed 32, NIU students are reciprocating. A busload of students and university counselors plan to take part in Virginia Tech vigils today, said NIU President John Peters.

"Our heart goes out to them," he said Tuesday.

NIU students and administrators will also gather at 8 p.m. on the NIU campus today for a vigil to remember the Virginia Tech shootings.

NIU organizing student Brittany Brzezinski said the campus is also still reeling from its own tragedy.

"We are a school that has experienced the same type of thing and we need to return them a favor of love and hope and strength and kindness," said the senior communications major from Libertyville.

Brzezinski will open and close the night's speeches and she plans to focus on the unity between the two schools that has come out of tragedy.

"They showed the world how to face tragedy with dignity and honor," she said.