GREENSBORO -- Thirty-two people were kill and 17 injured at Virginia Tech last year in the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. On Monday, UNC Greensboro put itself through an elaborate drill, simulating what happened in Blacksburg, Va., hoping to prevent a similar situation.

"You don't think about it everyday, what you would do in an emergency, so I just kind of sparked that conversation so the department's people could start thinking about what they do,” said Bruce Griffin, an environmental safety official.

Hundreds of volunteers were on hand for the full-scale drill, including Greensboro police, Guilford County sheriff’s deputies and EMS workers.

"We want to learn where our weaknesses are and that's the biggest thing we can do is we test what we have, but we also want to know where our weaknesses are and grow,” said Griffin.

"We try to read the Virginia Tech report and gain a lot of insight from the lessons learned,” added Capt. Paul Lester, an officer with UNC Greensboro campus police.

School officials there came under fire for the way they handled the shooting, but local authorities believe they did the best they could under the circumstances.

"A campus is no different than a city,” said Lester, “and you can't lock down cities, you can't lock down a large entity such as a university. There are too many opportunities for people to enter the campus either on foot or by vehicle.

“We just have to try and respond as best we can given the situation that we are confronted with."

But UNC Greensboro officials hope through exercises like the drill on Monday, they will be able to avoid tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech. Few students were on campus for the drill though. Classes don't resume until Jan. 14.