Reema Joseph Samaha

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(CBS/AP)  Reema Samaha, 18, a freshman from Centreville, Va., was a 2006 graduate of Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va.

Samaha loved to dance and was a fan of ballet and belly dancing, as well as a member of the school's Contemporary Dance Emsemble.

She had recently taken up belly dancing, a nod to her family's roots in Lebanon, which the Samahas visited each summer, friends said.

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Samaha's brother, Omar, speaks with The Early Show's Harry Smith

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Watching her on stage was captivating, said Lauren Walters, a Westfield graduate who is now enrolled at Clemson University.

"She was just beautiful and when you watched her, I thought she was one of the most gorgeous girls in the world inside and out."

Samaha's brother, Omar Samaha, himself a Virginia Tech graduate, said of the whole experience, "It's going to take a while to sink in."

He told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith that at first, he recounted, his sister was "apprehensive" about the large university, but once she found her sea legs, she began to "flourish" there. "She started to take things on. She was doing everything here."

He described her as someone who was "completely unique in every way. She always wanted to be unique. Always wanted to be different. Always had a unique flair."

Samaha was a Westfield H.S. classmate of victim Erin Peterson. The gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, had also attended the school.