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The Lasting Impact of Remembrance Week Syracuse University's Remembrance Week: "Look Back, Act Forward."

By Carson Gambaro

BRIAN KONKOL: As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

CARSON GAMBARO: It’s remembrance week. nearly 33 years ago, the S.U. community was shaken when 35 students lost their lives in the PanAm Flight 103 terrorist bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Even today, the aftershocks still resonate in Central New York.

MICAYLA MACDOUGALL: My mom remembers; she was at work and she was working with a friend of hers who was from Scotland. And it came across the radio, and just shook the ground that they were on.

GAMBARO: Beyond the loss there rings a more hopeful sound. Yesterday, the university’s Remembrance Scholarship program began their weeklong reflection with music and message in Hendricks Chapel. Kelly Rodoski has been involved with the program for over a decade. she most enjoys the diverse pool of scholars with whom she’s worked.

KELLY RODOSKI: Every year we have a great group of scholars that bring their own talents and their own life experiences to this process, and it just makes it different and so much richer every every year.

GAMBARO: These 35 empty chairs on the quad depict the seating arrangement of the Orange Family bombing victims. Earlier today the 35 remembrance scholars sat down in these chairs in a moment of silence. Each of the scholars take up the opportunity to represent one particular student, whose name they carry on at their candlelight vigil and other events throughout the week. beneath the tiny flame lies a multigenerational connection. this newfound bond left Micayla MacDougall in shock and awe.

MACDOUGALL: I looked at the archive collection for Nick, and I got to go through some of his school papers, and letters professors wrote to his parents, and I read through the entire guest log at his funeral…and I mean…that was heavy.

GAMBARO: It is ultimately because these young lives had so much to give that the scholars choose to make a greater impact in their community.

ELENA FIGLER: We actually started a drive for clothing and toiletry supplies for the Afghan refugees that are being relocated to Syracuse. That’s ongoing, we have donation bins in Schine and all of the Deans’ offices on campus.

GAMBARO: Looking back, acting forward. Carson Gambaro, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Every October, Syracuse University sets aside a week to reflect upon a shocking tragedy that took 35 members of the Orange family multiple decades ago. This year’s Remembrance Week is the 32nd since the PanAm Flight 103 bombings occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland, while the nearly three dozen students were returning from studying abroad. The terrorist attack left a deep gash on folks back home.

“I was a student here in 1988 when the tragedy happened,” said Kelly Rodoski, the senior communications manager of the Remembrance Program. “It was really something that just tore at our heart and soul here in Syracuse.”

Rodoski was not a Remembrance Scholar herself, but she witnessed the program’s establishment firsthand as a college sophomore. The program awards 35 seniors not only a prestigious scholarship, but also the emotionally morphing challenge of carrying on the legacies of those lost in the plane crash.

Throughout Remembrance Week, the scholars put on a host of events in honor of the beloved victims, including a choral performance, candlelight vigil, mixed in with several moments of silence.

In doing so, each of the scholars emerge with a larger-than-life connection. For Elena Figler, the newfound relationship between she and her represented student, Stephen J. Boland, hits especially close to home.

“It’s really crazy, he grew up 15 minutes away from where I grew up in New Hampshire,” Figler said. “He was a big Beatles fan, my family are big Beatles fans. I just kept seeing all of these parallels.”

Being part of the remembrance program goes sea deep into the Bird Library Archives. There, the scholars gain access to some of the most personal components of the victims’ lives, including their scholarly essays, photo albums, and notes from former professors. Ultimately, they see a stranger’s life in development through a cross-generational lens.

“The gaining of this friend that I never knew by learning about their life…is something that I’ve never seen anywhere else,” said Micayla MacDougall, who is representing Nicholas Andreas Vrenios. “It’s created a bond with me and this program that I never knew was possible before.”

In seeing the sheer amount that the students before them had to offer, the Remembrance Scholars pledge to leave a positive mark on their local community. This year, they are picking up trash and planting trees across the City of Syracuse, as well as collecting clothes for incoming Afghan refugees.

All in all, their mission is simple, but powerful:

“Look Back, Act Forward.”

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