Students hold vigil on Douglass campus to remember 9/11
Lit candles marked the way toward remembrance last night during the “Never Forget Candlelight Memorial” on the back lawn of Woodbury Commons-Bunting Cobb on Douglass campus.
The ceremony, organized by the resident assistants and Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) in Woodbury Commons-Bunting Cobb, featured key speaker Ron Miskoff and student speaker Sarah Morrison, a School of Arts and Sciences senior.
Morrison brought with her The Scarlet Tribute, a flag comprised of students’ handprints, making its second appearance on campus.
“The flag has come full circle back to me,” she said. “The campus is united through the flag … the project was done 10 years ago for 9/11 and we want to commemorate that with this flag.”
The flag will be given to the University as a gift on behalf of the student body, Morrison said.
Devinn Lambert, coordinator of the event and a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said she wanted to commemorate an event that affected many people on campus by bringing them together during a candlelight memorial.
“We are donating donations tonight to the Voices of September 11th charity, [which is] based in Connecticut [and] has their main office in New Brunswick, and we wanted to give back right here,” she said.
Stephanie McRae, hall director of Woodbury Commons, said the memorial took about a month to plan and involved a lot of collaboration between hall directors and PALs.
“One of the resident assistants, Devinn decided she wanted to do something for the 10th memorial of 9/11,” she said. “We contacted a professor to speak, we contacted charities, and we decided to do a candlelight ceremony.”
Kathrena Aljallad, resident assistant at Bunting Cobb, said the event was held on a Tuesday to honor Tuesday’s Children, a 9/11 charity.
“We wanted to have it sometime in September and we wanted to have it on a Tuesday so it just happened to fall on this date,” Aljallad said, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore.
The Old Queen’s Chorale performed two songs, “The Human Heart” and “Hold Me, Rock Me” with a moment of silence in between the pieces.
“We do a lot of gigs around campus but this is a great memorial and we’re proud to be apart of it,” said Stephanie Kalebjiah, a School of Arts and Sciences senior and president of the Old Queen’s Chorale.
Miskoff, a professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, gave a speech about his experience working with the “9/11 Student Journalism Project” and read selections from two of the students’ works.
“It’s ironic in a bittersweet way, but on Sept. 11, 2011, the day so many people died, Pulitzer prizes were made,” he said. “I think the students in the ‘9/11 Project’ came to understand that when you arrive as journalists you get the feeling that your work can actually change something.”
Miskoff said this was the first time many of the children involved, many whom were adults, spoke openly about their lost parent.
“They showed us by example the personal horrors they endured, not the political speech … and the inane talk show speculation we hear so often,” he said. “The children of 9/11 turned out to be ordinary people in many ways who, in most cases, became extraordinary human beings.”
Morrison interviewed a 27-year-old man named Drew who at the time of 9/11 was a senior in high school accepted on a Division III soccer scholarship to southern college.
“He was very upset, angry … but Drew kept his faith,” she said. “The thing that got me was how his mother’s body was never recovered and he said, ‘Why bother visiting cemeteries or gravesites? My mom’s body is in a dump somewhere.’”
Morrison, whose story was featured on CNN, said the project helped her develop a thicker skin when tackling emotional subjects.
“We were definitely well-prepped when we went into the interview, we had psychologists come to class and show us how to address the subject,” she said. “Drew didn’t cry during the interview but there were moments when it was tough.”
Helene Puzio, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore, said the event held mixed feelings for her.
“It’s been 10 years, and we’ve all been through it and felt its’ impact especially in North Jersey,” she said. “We all remember that day.”
