Student Government Association organizes candlelight vigil.
By: John Dunphy
Five years ago, Jenn Kamm was in study hall. Steven Klemchalk stood in the hallway at school, getting a muffin for breakfast. And Karson Langenfelder sat atop his desk in German class, transfixed, like many, to a television.
Now as students at Rider University they, and many others, participated earlier this week in "Peaceful Tomorrows: the Student Government Association Remembers 9/11" in front of the Moore Library at the school’s Lawrence campus.
The candlelight vigil is the fourth assembled by the SGA, and has become a yearly tradition for the Rider population, said Mr. Langenfelder, a senior and program coordinator for the event.
"It’s important because of the loss at Rider University," he said, noting six alumni, and one current student at the time, who had died as a result of the four planes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I think it’s a great way for Rider to do something for 9/11," Ms. Kamm, a junior, said. "It’s something small we do every year, but it makes a big impact."
Many of those who assembled and attended this year’s event were in high school classes when news programs first announced what had happened. And while their minds that morning may have been filled with thoughts about what was for lunch in the cafeteria or if they’d failed a test, Assistant Dean of Campus Life Cassie Iacovelli was thinking about far more pleasant things.
"We were at the Bart Luedeke Center (at Rider University) blowing up balloons for our traditional Cranberry Fest," she said. "There was a TV on the ground floor in the pub and somebody screamed."
Those prepping for the event, which was supposed to happen later that morning, went to see what the commotion was about. When they saw that one of the twin towers had been hit "we didn’t register that it was a national crisis," Ms. Iacovelli said.
"We went back to the balloons," she said. "Then somebody screamed again. When the second plane hit, I remember saying, ‘we’re not having Cranberry Fest.’"
"We were in a cabinet meeting with other senior officers," said Anthony Campbell, dean of students. "Our first reaction was ‘how could a plane go so off course?’ Then the next plane hit and we knew it wasn’t an accident."
For the Rider University community, a day of fun and celebration had shifted to crisis management and of growing concern for loved ones, not only near ground zero, but everywhere.
"I became ‘mom,’" Assistant Dean Iacovelli said. "I had two kids in college, in Arizona and North Carolina, and one down the street at Notre Dame High School. I was mom I had to track the kids down.
"As a day or two went by, I knew our world would never be the same," she said. "I just feel relief I was not personally affected."
Not everyone could be so fortunate. As Monday night’s 30-minute presentation continued, several members in the audience put their hands to their mouths. Some cried, five years later, as displayed images of that day’s events rekindled memories some may have buried awhile ago.
For junior Theresa Androvett, seeing firefighters run into the burning towers stoked her own desire to join them.
"I wanted to be a part of that brotherhood even more," she said. "I wanted to be the one who went into the fire, not out. On Sept. 11, 2001, our nation’s emergency responders did their jobs."
Rider University President Mordechai Rozanski said he believes there’s just as much a strong feeling about the events now "and that will continue."
"It was a seminal moment in the country’s history," he said.
Ms. Androvett hopes so. Now a volunteer with both her hometown fire company in Beechwood, as well as with the Lawrence Road Fire Company Station 22, she said it seems the events of five years agohave begun to drift to the back of people’s minds.
"I noticed today, I don’t think some people realized what today was, unless it had hit home for them," she said Monday.
Ms. Androvett still remembers. As does President Rozanski, Assistant Dean Iacovelli, Dean Campbell and the rest of the assembled mass that lit candles in honor of those lost five years ago.
"I think it’s different as generations pass by," Dean Campbell said. "But, the people there that day, I don’t think it’s a day they’ll ever forget."