About 50 members of the Elon community stood on Moseley portico Wednesday to read the names of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as part of Elon’s Week of Remembrance. Details...
Students and faculty took turns reading victims’ names and brief biographies throughout the day. The readings began at 8:30 a.m. and paused at 10:45 a.m. for the community-wide gathering in Alumni Gym. Readings resumed at 1:30 p.m. and continued until 8 p.m.
Judd Asbill, a junior from Atlanta, volunteered to read names several times during the day.
“I did it out of a sense of duty,” he said. “It opened up my heart to the enormity of the issue. Over 3,000 people is a lot of people, and you realize it when you see how long it takes to name them all.”
Sophomore Brett Cooper said he was greatly affected by reading the names. “It gave me a chance to reflect, just remember everything that happened,” said Cooper, from Virginia Beach, Va. “I feel like part of me has gone with them.”
Cooper said the extent of the attacks hit him as he read the name of an 11-year-old boy from Washington, D.C. “I almost wanted to cry. Reading that added emphasis to the fact that some people lost everything.”
Asbill was equally touched. “I wanted to honor those who were lost, who didn’t have a chance. The more you give, the more satisfaction you get.”