UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa -- A sense of community and mutual feelings of loss are what compelled the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) to hold the second annual Night of Remembrance on April 24 in honor of 15 students whose lives were lost during this academic year.
The candlelight ceremony held on the steps of Old Main, honored the following students: Lauren Bajorek, Joseph Blunschi, Damah Conteh, Jacob Correll, John Darcey, Christopher Dixon, Michael Eiben, Luca Franzini, Naomi Grix, Alexander Murk, Eli (Miriam) Roe, Vitalya (Tally) Sepot, Nicholas Snyder, Nicholas Stuck, and Michael Walsh.
“As a college student, you never think this is going to happen, you think you’re invincible,” Alexander Shockley, speaker of the assembly for UPUA, said. “I may not have known each of these students personally, but I’ve seen them around, I’ve passed them on the street and in the hallways. It’s shocking that they aren't here. We don’t always value the time we have.”
Shockley said he was humbled by the turnout of about 200 people, who came to honor the lost students.
“It was nearly four times the amount that we had last year,” he said. Several students felt impelled to come forward and share memories of their friends. Shockley commented that Penn State is a place where students feel comfortable expressing their feelings; they know that they will have the support of their classmates.
“Our students each come to Penn State with individual aspirations and hopes, but we want them to find in this special place a shared sense of community. And when one of them is lost, the loss is for all of us to share. In that sense, the Night of Remembrance provides our campus community a moment it requires to acknowledge both the students we have lost and their enduring connections to all of us,” said Damon Sims, vice president for Student Affairs at Penn State.
“I am grateful to our student government leaders for their thoughtfulness and care in organizing and conducting this event. They understand the meaning of loss and remembrance, and I am confident that the students they honored will not be forgotten by the campus community to which they will forever belong.”