Sept. 11 candle light vigil helps CMU students unite, remember
8:46 a.m. It’s just another day at school. For some, their days will soon begin, but for people working between the 93rd and 99th floor of the North Tower of the Twin Towers, their days soon will end.
Eleven years later, at 9:00 p.m. on Central Michigan University’s campus, students gather to remember and unite the events that happened on that horrific morning.
The Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center put on the annual Sept. 11 candle vigil last night on the west side of Park Library. Jason Vasquez, a graduate assistant and Volunteer Center coordinator, helped plan the special event.
“Its purpose is to honor and remember the lives that were lost in the events that happened 11 years ago,” Vasquez said.
Troy junior Adam Cable attended the event for his second time since coming to CMU.
“I love that (CMU) has this and the community is so great to see the turn out every year,” said Adam Cable, a Troy junior.
Being in the fraternity Beta Theta Pi, Cable brought along a few of his brothers to join in on the event and to support the sponsors of the vigil.
“(The event) blows me away. The volunteer center knows how to put on a great event,” Cable said. “It’s great to see everyone come out and support those who gave their lives that day.”
For Alisa Olson, the Sept. 11 attack was a scary day personally.
The Idaho sophomore's vacation in 2001 began in one world and ended in another: pre-Sept. 11 and post-Sept. 11.
"I was in Anaheim, Calif., at Disneyland,” she said. “I was with my ex-husband and a couple friends from Michigan.”
A friend told her to turn on the TV. She turned it on in time to see Flight 175 crash into the south World Trade Center tower.
“Ever since then I have been afraid to fly,” Olson said.
She had driven with her husband to Anaheim from Las Vegas. On Sept. 15, Olson was back at the airport in Las Vegas to fly home.
"I remember in the airport, looking at someone else and wondering if they were going to do something,” she said. “I wondered if I would make it safely home. I sent a lot of prayers asking to make it home.”
Olson said the day of the attacks was tragic, but each Sept. 11 since has been a positive.
“It’s been something that has united us and brought us together,” Olson said. “I’m so thankful to our military — they keep us safe.”
