In remembrance of the lives lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the College Republicans placed about 3,000 American flags outside of Moody, where they also led a candelight memorial Thursday night.
The candelight memorial started years ago, but the group was unable to lead the event last year, so College Republicans president Emily Sileven said they wanted to bring it back this year.
“It’s something that no one else on campus has done,” Sileven, senior multimedia major from Van Alystne, said. “We saw a need to fill that role.”
Sileven said the event, along with the flags displayed on campus, is a “unifying experience” for College Republicans members and other nonmembers.
“You come together and you have this little community,” Sileven. “That’s kind of what happened whenever we were putting up the flags. We had officers come in, but then we also had some people who were theater majors or who were kinesiology, and they could say, ‘Hey, can I help?'”
Naomi Lyday, College Republicans chaplain, said she thinks putting up the flags is a unique way to spread awareness about 9/11.
“The act of just sacrificing your time, I think, is important, because it’s showing that we may sacrifice a little bit,” Lyday, sophomore management major from Grapevine, said, “but think about how those people that you know, risk their lives going into the debris and everything, sacrifice their lives to pull out loved ones that were lost during that day.”
At the candelight memorial, students gathered alongside members of ACUPD, the Abilene fire department and a representative for U.S. Rep. Jodi Arrington. College Republicans officers and Dr. Neal Coates, chair of the Department of Government and Criminal Justice, spoke about the history of the day and shared scripture.
A common theme from the devotional was unity.
“Right now, there’s a lot of division, whether it be with Republican, Democrat, this, that,” Lyday said. “[During] 911, there was no Democratic and Republican blood. It was American blood spilled that day. This is just a good reminder and an opportunity to just connect the community as a whole and show that while we may have our differences and different opinions, that at the end of the day, we are for each other.”
