The Virginia Tech community joined with many others yesterday to memorialize the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.
To honor the victims and heroes, the Cranwell International Center, the office of the dean of students, Multicultural Programs and Services, University Unions and Student Activities worked together to meet reflection and remembrance needs of the community.
Planning for the commemorative events started two weeks ago when an e-mail sent to the division listserv called for volunteers willing to offer their time to help staff the various programs.
One such program was the Remembrance Scrolls located on the Drillfield and outside the front entrance of Squires Student Center. Students and staff were given a slip of paper bearing the name of a victim (with or without a picture), his/her company, age and hometown. Each participant was asked to simply sign the victim?s name on the scroll in remembrance.
?The names deserved to be written. You got a feel of who that person was, even though you didn?t know him/her,? said graduate building construction major Hannibal Hasan.
?The people who died for our country deserve our respect,? said sophomore communication major Kristen Gravely, after signing the scroll on the Drillfield.
The list contained roughly 3,000 names of victims from New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The goal was to have every name signed by 5 p.m. yesterday, even using members of the planning committee to sign the remaining names. The scrolls will be hung in Squires.
?The initial concept was to have each participant write a memory from their own experience on Sept.11. However, we decided it would help students connect better if they could see an individual?s name,? said Scott Reed, associate director of UUSA.
In addition to signing the two scrolls, the campus community saw a visual representation of the lives lost while walking across the Drillfield.
The College Republicans started at 4 a.m. yesterday morning to display the 2,977 miniature American flags in tribute.
?We wanted to honor each innocent life, and the flags represented our country,? said sophomore international studies major Rachel Whitt, event coordinator for College Republicans. ?It was to remember the victims.?
The War Memorial Chapel was also open to provide students and staff with an opportunity to remember the victims of Sept.11. While selections of classical music played in the background, participants lit a tea candle and placed it on the altar in memory of someone who died in the attacks. The sanctuary offered a space for personal meditation or quiet reflection on the five-year anniversary.
?The Chapel has always been a site dedicated to the memory of alumni who died in past and present wars, so students and faculty who visited yesterday made connections to the victims of 9/11 who lost their lives in today?s war,? said Iris Cabatit, Chapel Office Services Assistant.
Reed said that the main goal of yesterday?s programs was to give the campus community an opportunity to remember one of the most influential days in the country?s recent history.
