In honor of 9/11, Hobart and William Smith students banded together in unique ways to remember the lives lost. As students walked around campus Friday morning, one of the first things they noticed were the thousands of flags arranged on the quad. Each flag stood for a life lost in the tragic events of 2001, placed there by members of Kappa Alpha Fraternity. This created an eye-opening and somber visual for the members of our campus community to take in. Many students were seen taking photographs of the flags and sharing them for others to see, expanding the memorial beyond HWS.
Additionally, Rebecca Czajkowski ’18 organized another commemoration outside of the Scandling Center on Friday. Throughout the day, all of the events that occurred back in 2001 were recodred on a board, allowing students to remember the day as it happened. Selection of such a public space allowed for numerous students to observe and reflect. With many students being young at the actual time of the event, this gave people the opportunity to truly understand how the 9/11 attacks unraveled.
Later in the evening, a luminaria took place along the sidewalk of the center. Many students participated and lit up the campus and sky, in recognition of the lives lost and affected by the 9/11 events.
Personally, events such as this are one of the many reasons I am proud to be a member of the Hobart and William Smith community. The cooperativeness and respect that went into honoring victims proves that HWS truly does create and develop young men and women into upstanding citizens.