It ended with everyone in the audience linking arms and singing “Hark the Sound.” And then applause. Then, the only sound is shuffling of feet and whispers. R.E.M.’s Night swimming is cued and, just like that, Eve Carson’s life has been celebrated and remembered by those who knew her oh so well and those who wish they had the chance.

Tim Reilly, who dated Eve Carson for three years, detailed one of their disagreements:  “Eve and I had different conceptions of excitement … excitement for Eve entailed things like dancing, traveling and throngs of new faces. For me it entailed thinking, reading and familiar company … All I was asking for was a compelling analysis of why dance parties were more exciting then contemplation.”

Eve was big into exlamation points. Sometimes, she would punctuate her e-mails with seven, even eight exclamation points, to display her enthusiasm.

A friend is talking about how Eve Carson once listed every one of her crushes on from kindergarten to present day. Among those making the list, teachers, neighbors, her brother’s friends and even Barack Obama.

“Eve inspires me to throw myself into every situation and everyone and then to celebrate everything that shakes out of it.”

A former roommate says he misses her and her “imperfections.” “She was a terrible driver. She was always late.” She always ate the ice cream in the freezer, leaving one bite because “after all, it was yours.” She thought about Halloween costumes in August. Her room was always a mess. She loved to dance. “Her plans changed with the wind.” These details help complete the beauty of her person, he said. His speech is garnering some of the first chuckles from the saddened crowd.

He’s one of several people to say she was sleep deprived.

Many students are wearing T-shirts that say “The world is our dancefloor.” Several of her friends have said she loved to dance.

On her campaign Web site, Eve Carson wrote: “I want to make student government something that everyone wants to be part of. I want to make bettering this university something exciting for all of you.” She created the largest cabinet in the University’s history, said one of her cabinet members.

Another anecdote: Carson was giving a tour of campus to a professor visiting from Afghanistan, and as they were walking through the pit, she spotted a few students who belonged to an a capella group to sing a song for him. Soon the group broke out into “You’ve lost the lovin feelin.” The look on the professor’s face was priceless, a friend said.

Among his memories, dropping by her house unexpected for a glass of water during an afternoon run and found an embarrassed Eve with a facial and painting her toe nails. She helped Seth get elected to student body president. His last exchange with her came through a series of text messages, she texted him to get advice on wents wiping ahether to drop a lab. She said if she did, it would improve her quality of life, but dropping the class meant she had to take summer school. She was concerned summer school would look bad on her resume.

Across the dome, I see students wiping away tears. I’m choking them back myself.

The UNC Gospel Choir is taking the stage to sing Amazing Grace. As they file onto the stage, the only thing you can hear is a few people coughing. It’s completely silent. All eyes are fixated on the stage. It’s sickening to think about her life being ripped away from her. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened to Eve Carson, perhaps the biggest being Why?

For the last home Carolina basketabll game, Eve Carson approached Peggy Jablonski, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and asked her what she thought about her wearing a formal dress to the game. Carson wanted to wear her prom dress. Jablonski responded: “I said go for it Eve, you’re a senior, have fun.”

And so she did.

UNC Board of Trustees Chair Roger Perry is sharing a wonderful anecdote about Carson. As student body president, she had a seat on the board. When the board considered raising out-of-state tuition, Carson asked if there could be a public hearing on the issue so students had a say. Perry said that normally the board wouldn’t allow it, but they agreed to Carson’s request and alloted 20 minutes for students to speak.

“After 40 minutes, not 20, of speaking, I looked over at Eve and she smiled .. and she whispered to me: ‘Just a few more,’” Perry said, and the audience chuckled.

About 25 minutes later he looked at her again and she smiled again and pinched her two fingers together, as if to say, ‘just a little bit longer.’

“Needless to say I melted on the spot,” Perry recalled. “When it was over and we recived all the student comments it dawned on me that Eve never intended to keep this 20 minutes.”

He realized “she was right, I was wrong, and I was delighted.”

UNC President Erskine Bowles is on stage and he has he’s not quite ready to celebrate Eve’s life yet.

“As I told her mom and daddy, Eve Carson made me feel special,” he said. “She made me feel like I was important to her. Eve Carson made me feel like I was her friend and boy I was.”

Bowles said when he checked his calendar for tomorrow, he noticed he had an e-mail from Eve attached. She had arranged a meeting weeks ago between him and some other student body leaders to discuss the University and how to take it forward. He plans to still have that meeting, he said, because that’s what Carson would have wanted.

“That meeting is going to take place because that’s what she wanted,” Bowles said.