Hobart and William Smith Colleges

11 September 2014 September 11 Remembered

As the nation marks the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Hobart and William Smith community observed a day of remembrance through several on-campus activities.

The Colleges lost three alums at the World Trade Center: Andrew H. Golkin 93, who majored in economics, was a member of the football team, Kappa Sigma, Inter-fraternity Council and the International Business Club; Scott W. Rohner 01, who majored in economics and played basketball and football; and Michael J. Simon 83, P11, P13, who majored in economics and was a member of Theta Delta Chi.

Beginning at 11 a.m. at the Scandling Campus Center, HWS community members had the opportunity to sponsor luminaries that were eventually placed below one of 3,000 American flags displayed on campus on Thursday. The luminaries were free and those who wished to sponsor one had the option to sign or leave a message on them in honor of a loved one. The Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning (CCESL) is facilitating the activity.

Its really important to remember this day and I think we can all remember what we were doing, said Sarah Henschel 15, who helped CCESL to organize the event. This is a way that we can remember the lives that were taken and the lives given to help.

I am grateful to the many students who have organized this tribute today and to our community which will gather this evening in solidarity and fellowship to light the luminaries below the American flags, said President Mark D. Gearan on Thursday morning. Although 13 years have passed since the attacks that led to such tragedy in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., we will never forget the bravery of so many on that day nor the three Hobart alumni who lost their lives in the collapse of the World Trade Center Andrew Golkin 93, Scott Rohner 01 and Michael Simon 93, P11, P13.

On Thursday morning, members of the Kappa Alpha Society placed the 3,000 American flags in front of the Scandling Campus Center representing the lives lost on that tragic day. The luminaries were later placed next to the flags.

This is a tribute that will serve as a reminder of the severity and the amount of lives lost on that fateful day, as well as a symbol showing we havent forgotten 13 years later, said Connor May, treasurer of the Kappa Alpha Society, who helped facilitate the displaying of the flags. Mays uncle worked on the 92nd floor of the South Tower and fortunately made it out alive; he organized the event to pay tribute to those who did not survive.

May collaborated with Jack Slattery 16 to bring the idea for displaying the flags to fruition. A native of Brooklyn, Slattery was able to see the World Trade Center from his second-grade classroom.

On campus, the U.S. flags were lowered to half staff in remembrance of Sept. 11.