For the 10th consecutive year, Ohio University students and Athens residents gathered to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
The OU College Republicans, with the support of the Young America’s Foundation, held a memorial for the 2,997 men and women who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and Flight 93, which crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa. 11 years ago.
About 40 people gathered on College Green, placing 2,997 individual American flags to remember those who were killed in the terrorist attacks.
Known as the “9/11: Never Forget Project,” similar memorials are being held on campuses nationwide by different student organizations, said Ryan Dilworth, president of the OU College Republicans.
“Every year, more and more people forget about what happened,” said Wil Lloyd, vice president of OU College Republicans. “This is a good time for personal reflection.”
The Young America’s Foundation is a non-profit organization that gets involved on campuses, and provided the tools for the College Republicans’ project, Lloyd said.
“We like to do this just as a nice gesture with the Young America’s Foundation,” said Dylan Gustafson, the OU College Republicans communications chair. “We encourage all students to come out and place a flag, regardless of their political views.”
The main goal of the “9/11: Never Forget Project” is to keep students and campuses nationwide from forgetting the importance of the terrorist attacks and to make sure it is properly mourned and remembered, Dilworth said.
He added that two campus-wide moments of silence are scheduled to take place Tuesday morning at the times that each attack took place.
Representatives from OU’s College Republicans plan to remain on-site at College Green throughout the 24-hour memorial, encouraging students to stop by and take a few moments out of their day to pay their respects to those who were killed in the attacks, Dilworth said.
“I think it is important that what happened on that day is never forgotten,” Gustafson said.
jr200009@ohiou.edu
