Sophomore Andy Ball, like many,
remembers exactly where he was on 9-11.
“Just hearing from a friend, walking through the tunnel towards
west campus, I came back to the [Student Union],” said Ball.
“That’s the only place I knew to go, I didn’t want
to be alone during that time.”
“On the way to the union, I saw the prayer
circle, about four people,” continued Ball. “I joined
in, closed my eyes and looked down. When I looked up ten minutes
later [the circle] was across the whole mall. I’ll always remember
that part.”
This year Ball, the Director of State and National
Affairs for the Student Government Sophomore Andy Ball, like many,
remembers exactly where he was on 9-11.
“Just hearing from a friend, walking through the tunnel towards
west campus, I came back to the [Student Union],” said Ball.
“That’s the only place I knew to go, I didn’t want
to be alone during that time.”
“On the way to the union, I saw the prayer circle, about four
people,” continued Ball. “I joined in, closed my eyes
and looked down. When I looked up ten minutes later [the circle]
was across the whole mall. I’ll always remember that part.”
This year Ball, the Director of State and National Affairs for the
Student Government
Association, has been coordinating Appalachian State University’s
9-11 commemoration ceremonies.
“[The SGA cabinet] has been planning for the last month for
the commemoration on Sanford mall,” said Ball. “We’re
going to be focusing more on what lessons we’ve learned out
of September 11th as a campus and a community.”
The cabinet has scheduled two ceremonies to take place Wednesday,
one at 11 a.m., the other at 5 p.m., according to information issued
by SGA. Each ceremony will be about an hour long.
“The morning ceremony is going to be targeted more towards
ASU students, faculty, and staff,” said Ball. “The [evening]
ceremony is going to be towards the Boone community and ASU students
coming together.”
As part of the effort to connect the campus and community in the
9-11 commemoration, the Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT)
office has put out a poster listing a variety of campus and community
events for 9-11.
“This could be a difficult time for many people,” said
Jenny Koehn, Community Service Coordinator for the ACT office. “Hopefully
the variety of programming will help comfort and support the campus
and community.”
The morning ceremony will feature the winner of the “Appalachian
Idol” contest singing the national anthem.
Between the two ceremonies, various campus organizations will set
up ‘commemoration tables’ around the mall.
“We’ve got [the Appalachian Popular Programming Society]
out there, the Campus Democrats and Republicans, [Students Actively
Volunteering for the Environment], setting up tables,” said
Ball. “All those organizations are going to be putting something
out to show what they did after 9-11 and how they’re commemorating
it.”
The evening ceremony includes speeches by Chancellor Francis T.
Borkowski, Mayor Velma Burnley, and Koehn.
Both ceremonies will include moments of silence, testimonial statements
from students, and speeches by Student Body President Ryan Eller.
Boone Police Chief Bill Post and Fire Chief Reggie Hassler will
be leading moments of silence and flag raising at the ceremonies.
“I was especially excited about getting [Hassler and Post]
out. It symbolizes the fallen heroes from 9-11 that we want to honor
that gave their lives voluntarily,” said Ball.
Ball said that the SGA Cabinet had taken on the main duties of arranging
the ceremonies.
“We’ve called every single organization, we’ve called
the Boone Town Officials,” said Ball. “We’ve mailed
letters and invitations to all the Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors.
It’s been a little difficult for me to organize everything,
so I’ve had other Cabinet members call and confirm things.
It’s been a lot to work out, but I think it’s going to
be a success.” |
