Westmont Students to Remember 9/11

The Westmont Conservatives Club honors the people killed Sept. 11, 2001, with a display of 1,500 American flags on Kerrwood Lawn, one for every two people who died that fateful day. The club invites the college and the local community to attend a time of remembrance and commemoration at 6 p.m. today on the lawn.

“College students can easily get caught up doing homework and forget the significance of the day,” says Maggie Heenan, WCC treasurer. “Putting out those flags is a long and time-consuming process, but it really serves to burn into our brains what each flag represents.”

Among the 1,500 American flags are 115 white flags that represent the number of countries that also experienced loss in the 9/11 attacks.

“Unrepresented by flags are the countless number of friends and family members whose lives are forever marked by that day,” says Cassandra M. Joiner, WCC president. “We can’t bring back the loved ones lost, but we can share in and preserve their memory.”

At this evening’s commemoration, Joiner and Heenan will lead a time of prayer and contemplation and Westmont junior Celestina Ripley will lead in singing of “Amazing Grace.” The remembrance will include a period of silence at 6:11 p.m. A book containing the names of all the 9/11 victims will be on a podium near the flags and available for students to look through. Joiner says each person at the commemoration will be given a card with the name of a victim’s family to be remembered in prayer.