Students, staff and alumni gathered in front of Fonville Fountain at noon on Friday to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in a brief reflection ceremony that featured poetry and a moment of silence.
Eight years after terrorists crashed jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, the Elon University community honored the nearly 3,000 innocent people killed in the attacks, those who died in subsequent military actions, and survivors whose lives were forever changed on that day.
“We are gathered together as a community out of a need to remember,” said chaplain intern Chet Denlinger. “It is a need to remember an event that has impacted who we are and how we view our place in the world.”
Denlinger read two poems during the 10-minute program – “Tears on Earth” by Andrea Fletcher and “Infinite Possibilities” by Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave. The two poems were separated by a moment of silence.
An estimated 75 people attended the ceremony, hosted by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.