Steph MangoldWalking across campus on Sept. 11, one could not help but feel the bittersweet emotions that were streaming across the faces of everyone that walked its grounds.
The campus held events and ceremonies to honor the occasion both Wednesday and Thursday.
Bells chimed from Founders Hall at 8:48 a.m., the exact time that American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center.
Cabrini students, faculty and staff gathered in the Chapel for a prayer service and campus-wide moment of silence.
Dr. Mary Laver, coordinator of Community Outreach & Partner-ships, who helped organize the events, said
“The message is that this a day of looking back and looking ahead. A day of prayer, action and making the world a better place.”
Jess Morgan, campus minister, who also coordinated many of the day’s events, led a procession around a 20 foot student-made labyrinth.
“The idea of the labyrinth is to walk inward finding peace within your own life and walk outward to bring that peace into the world,” Morgan said. In the evening, a candlelight vigil was held around the Peace Pole.
On Thursday, Campus Ministry also held a Caring Citizen Fair. Laver commented that its purpose was to find “strength in each other and heal what’s broken in our world.” CAV Pride teamed up with Big Brothers/Big Sisters to sponsor a day of community outreach for Cabrini students.
The history club worked with the League of Women Voters to encourage those students who have not yet registered to vote. Absentee ballots were made available for out-of-state voters.
The Caring Citizen Fair served as encouragement to students who want to make an active difference in the world.
The Campus Activities and Programming Board held a display outside of the food court on both Wednesday and Thursday.
An encased display of manikins wearing the uniforms of firefighters, police officers and medical technicians were the student body’s personal commemoration of the heroes who lost their lives to save the lives of others.
John Verdi, chair of the CAP board, said that the event was “a demonstration of our thanks and appreciation [to the heroes] from the campus community.”
Michael Sofia, a sophomore and political science major, said “The events of the day reminded me that there is a world much larger and more complex than the little community here at Cabrini.”
The responses of the Sept. 11 attacks were another way that Cabrini students showed their dedication and responsibility to the world that is changing right in front of their eyes.
