AMELIE SEDLACK / FEATURE EDITOR

On Thursday, Sept. 11, USD hosted two events in remembrance of the 2001 9/11 attacks. At 8:30am, the 9/11 Remembrance and Interfaith Prayer for Peace was held in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre. Many students in the ROTC program came to pay their respects, along with a few other students. 

The service started with the March on Colors and the song “Amazing Grace” sung by Golden Holmes, a retired U.S. Navy sailor. Michael Lovette-Colyer, the vice president for mission integration, gave a short invocation before the memorial. The memorial was a bell on the theater stage. As each flight that was hijacked that day  was announced, the bell would be rung and a moment of  silence would follow. 

Afterwards, Brother Yusef Miller — a retired Muslim soldier who was  on Active Duty during the events of 9/11 — Andrew Levikow — a USD  senior student representative of Hillel at USD and Father Greg McGivern all gave a prayer from their own faiths for all those that were affected by 9/11. 

USD senior Celeste Regalado attended the event. 

“I  thought it was done really well,” Regalado said. “I thought it was really cool that they had people from different religions coming to talk. I thought that was put together really well.” 

Julissa Pacheco, a USD semior in ROTC, attended both the prayer and the ROTC’s own stair climb. 

“If a life were to be lost, it’s not just a coworker …they had a family,” Pacheco said. “They were just going on their flight … They were average, normal people.” 

As a second way for USD students to honor and remember 9/11, USD also hosted the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Challenge at Palomar Health Student Wellness Center where students could challenge themselves to climb all 110 floors, 2,200 steps of the twin towers — the amount of steps the firefighters had to climb and the amount of steps those fleeing from the building had to descend. 

USD sophomore Sofia Kartel participated in the Stair Climb Challenge, climbing all 110 floors. 

“You’re never going to be able to replicate what it was like to be going through that experience at the time,” Kartel said. “When I was doing it, and the people next to me, we were all taking it seriously. I saw people wearing weighted vests. For the people who did it, they took it seriously.” 

USD sophomore Giulia Coloso also did the Stair Climb Challenge. 

“People want to honor the lives that were lost but they don’t have as much time to do something  else,” Coloso said. “If you put it as a physical challenge people are more willing  to  challenge  themselves and at the same time feel that they’re  doing  something  good.”

USD senior Emily Cizin, who is also in ROTC, attended both the prayer and the ROTC’s stair climb. 

“I don’t think people realize, especially how heavy the helmets are and then how, they are protective, but also extremely insulating…[first responders] manage to do it because of the good in their hearts,” Cizin said. 

Pacheco reflects on her time climbing the stairs. 

“It got really hard really fast and I just can’t imagine carrying a body or equipment,” Pacheco said. “It really puts it into perspective mentally, but physically putting another aspect to it gives you a whole, overall picture into what happened even though you weren’t there.”

Although both Regalado and Cizin had good things to say about the 9/11 Remembrance and  Interfaith  Prayer for Peace, they both noted the lack of students not part of ROTC. 

Regalado said, “I wish there were more … students that came to it … It would be nice if it were more advertised … More people would be willing to go if they knew about it.”

Cizin agreed with this sentiment. “It was interesting just because it was strictly ROTC and some people from the Vista, that was all I saw, so that was a little disheartening.” Cizin said. “I think they could have gotten it out to the general  student body a little better, and I think some people would have come.” 

Overall, many students were grateful to have a chance to honor the people who were affected by 9/11 and gain insight into the perspective of what first responders experienced.

USD students participate in the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Challenge. Hailey Howell/The USD Vista