SJC Brooklyn students, faculty and staff gathered in the courtyard behind St. Angela Hall Friday afternoon for a memorial ceremony acknowledging the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
American flags arranged to read “9-11” in front of Tuohy Hall.
Campus Ministry Director Sister Marie Mackey, C.S.J., began the ceremony by leading a special prayer that remembered the lives lost in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The ceremony also featured readings by Assistant Dean Angela Diaz and SJC students, as well as a presentation of a wreath and the U.S. flag by student veterans Emmanuel Johnson, Stanley Cooper and Anthony Paugh. The ceremony closed with Christian Branch, assistant for campus events and technical services singing “God Bless America.”
“I was a freshman in high school when it happened,” said Cooper, a U.S. Air Force veteran. “I remember seeing all the smoke for a long time and everyone was anxious because they didn’t know what was happening. This was nice for me to be a part of. It was nice they did this at the school to show remembrance.”
Johnson added that the anniversary of the attacks is important to him because he is a Brooklyn native, remembers seeing the smoke outside his elementary school classroom, and his mother was injured while escaping the World Trade Center, where she worked.
“Today is about the students who were involved in a tragic incident on Sept. 11, 2001,” said Johnson, a Navy veteran. “Today we are paying tribute to the (alumni) who lost their lives.”
The ceremony was held next to a memorial plaque that recognizes the alumni, and relatives of SJC alumni, who died during the Sept. 11. attacks, including Jennifer Mazzotta ’00, Paul Rizza ’99 and Richard Catarelli ’76. Each worked at the World Trade Center.
Emmanuel Johnson, an organizational management major and a Navy veteran, salutes during the memorial ceremony.
Christian Branch sings “God Bless America” during the memorial ceremony.
SJC Brooklyn veteran students Anthony Paugh, left, and Emmanuel Johnson during the memorial ceremony.
