9/11: A 10th-Anniversary Remembrance
Published 09.11.2011
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The Gallery at Penn College
On the 10th anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history, the Pennsylvania College of Technology community gathered in tribute to the lives lost and valor born on that horrific Sept. 11. College employees and enrollees alike – some of whom were in elementary school when hijacked passenger planes slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania – assembled in the presentation room of the Student and Administrative Services Center. "Ordinary people became heroes that day," President Davie Jane Gilmour recalled. "They did things they never thought possible; they made a difference. I never again will look at a first responder, a firefighter or a police officer the same way. They never thought once, or twice, about their own lives." The brief service, moved indoors due to threatening rain and lightning, also included violin solos of the national anthem and "God Bless America" performed by Leah Nason, a Loyalsock Township High School student whose father, Brad, is a faculty member in the School of Integrated Studies; a reading by student Katey E. Landry of a memorial poem; a candle-lighting, accompanied by video clips and photographs underscored by Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" and an opportunity for silent reflection. "I like to think that we're all better people because we treat one another differently now," Gilmour said. "That, even if only for a moment, we get our priorities right."
A torch is passed to a new generation, students who were youngsters on Sept. 11, 2001.
Flickering flames punctuate a photo montage.
President Davie Jane Gilmour shares her perspective on tragedy's aftermath.
Katey E. Landry, a baking and pastry arts student from Breinigsville, offers anonymous – but emotional – verse.
Students, college employees fill the SASC presentation room for a moving memorial.
In a "voice" both mournful and soaring, violinist Leah Nason strikes a fitting note.
Participants reflect in silence while watching reminders from a decade past.
— Photos by Michael J. Fischer, student photographer
A torch is passed to a new generation, students who were youngsters on Sept. 11, 2001.
Flickering flames punctuate a photo montage.
President Davie Jane Gilmour shares her perspective on tragedy's aftermath.
Katey E. Landry, a baking and pastry arts student from Breinigsville, offers anonymous – but emotional – verse.
Students, college employees fill the SASC presentation room for a moving memorial.
In a "voice" both mournful and soaring, violinist Leah Nason strikes a fitting note.
Participants reflect in silence while watching reminders from a decade past.49051