Students pay tribute to 9-11 victims

By Carolyn LaValey
Staff Writer

“As our parents have remembered the assassination of President Kennedy, and as our grandparents remember the bombings of Pearl Harbor, today we remember the attacks on the World Trade Centers. It is a day we will never forget.” -Sean Delaney-Gesing


Cadet Captain Lewis Valdez of Lorain Southview High School’s JROTC leaves the Stocker  Center Cinema Hall after presenting the flag during the Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony.
Photo by Brian Smith.

Student Senate Vice President Delaney-Gesing began the Sept. 11 Memorial in the Stocker Arts Center’s Cinema Hall with a short speech and continued on to instruct the audience to stand for Lorain Southview High School’s JROTC color guard. The members of the audience rose to their feet as the guard filed into the room and halted at the center, with straight backs and expressionless faces. The room fell silent as Pheobe Kirk, an LCCC student studying to become a Surgical Technician, began to sing the low and somber opening notes of the national anthem. As the haunting sound of her voice continued to ring through the hall in the moments after the song came to a close, the crowd took their seats.

After a short break for a Student Senate provided lunch, Delaney-Gesing stepped to the middle of the room again and requested that the audience members share a vivid memory from the morning of Sept. 11. At first, the audience was reluctant to share, but slowly people began to volunteer.

“I was in infantry in the US Army at the time of the attack. I was just sitting in the barracks when everyone started running around and yelling about how a plane hit the World Trade Center. Everyone ran to the nearest TV they could find. To find out if there was any truth in what we all were hearing. I was with a group of people who got to a TV and turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit,” said Brandon Brown, a security officer for the college, pausing to bow his head and close his eyes. He continued, “The whole base went on lock down. We knew we had to get ready for war...It was surreal at the time, as I am sure many others felt at that time. I remember certain events, but not exactly when it all happened.”

Another member of the audience also shared.

“I was actually attending a meeting on campus. Everyone was just in shock when we heard about what happened,” said Jan Bryden, Administrative Associate of Academic Foundations, nodding towards the news coverage playing in the background.  “Every time I see videos of this, I get sick inside all over again.”

A woman sitting with Bryden also decided to speak.

“I was living in Florida, my husband and I were getting dressed for work, and we had the news on,” said Carolina Vrdaneta, a Staff Associate of Academic Foundations. “Then we saw the plane crash, and we didn’t really know what was going on. When we got to work we got all of these calls at the office saying ‘get out of there right away, the building has to be evacuated’...The feeling was very sad. We started praying when we saw the bodies falling from the buildings. It was just so sad for all of us.”

Keith Brown, Director of Campus Security, stated that, “Back in 2001, I was an officer. My partner and I were watching TV when all these alerts came on about the attack.  My partner, my boss and I were so shocked. I just remember looking at their faces and feeling the shock and fear in their eyes. They both looked as scared as I felt.
Soon the decision was made to close the campus, and as was helping to evacuate, I remember still hearing planes over head and remember thinking ‘are we going to be attacked here too?’”

Brown was referring to the United 93 airplane that was hijacked and forced to change direction directly over the City of Elyria. This plane was intended to attack the White House or U.S. Capital Building. The aircraft eventually crash landed into a town in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 40 people.