BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) – Months after the Virginia Intermont campus burned down, former students and staff gathered to farewell the school they once called home.

In December, Virginia Intermont experienced a fire that would destroy the campus. The news of the destruction came as a surprise to alums.

“It was shocking,” Stacey Taylor said. “I just, I just can’t believe it.”

“Seeing it is almost like a different finality,” Chuck Parker said. “This place is not going to be the same as it was.”

Although the physical campus was gone, alums refused to let the school’s memory fade. One group decided it was time to bring everyone back together.

“We knew we needed something to celebrate,” Event co-chair Beth Gamble Albers said. “We had not really had a big reunion since I left in 1992.”

The group contacted King University, where the Virginia Intermont transcripts are held.

Events for the alums were held throughout the weekend. On Saturday, hundreds of former students and faculty, from the oldest class to the last class in 2014, filled the King University chapel.

Albers said she was grateful to reunite with former classmates.

“We’re all one big family,” she said. “And being here this weekend, I have seen people I haven’t seen in 30 years, and it feels like it was six months ago.”

Members of Bristol, Virginia leadership, and Virginia Delegate Israel O’Quinn were also in attendance. Alumni said they are grateful for the support both officials have offered.

“To have them come in and say they’re going to get some things done and declare it blighted so that they can move on,” Albers said. “It really gives us hope that there’s a VI legacy to be had.”

“They’re here throughout the city, they see the impact that it had on the city as well,” Taylor said. “And then also for the commitment that they had with us as well. And then you feel like you have a support system.”

Throughout the ceremony, former students shared memories and shed bittersweet tears.

“We all started getting teary because all of our experiences were the same,” Albers said. “Whether you were a horsemanship major, I was a sports management major, he was a photography major. It was across the board, the exact same experience no matter what your major was.”

The farewell ended with a “Ringing of the Bell,” one ring for each year the school was open. While it took a tragedy to bring everyone back to Bristol, alumni said they were grateful for the reunion regardless.

“It’s a way to connect and reconnect,” Parker said. “For support, which is, again, what Virginia Intermont taught us, is to support one another no matter what.”

The group also held a silent auction on Saturday. All proceeds from the weekend will go towards scholarships at Emory & Henry University and King University.