At 8:46 a.m., the sounds of the National Anthem echoed across the University of New Haven’s Maxcy Quad in remembrance of the Twin Towers that were hit in the center of New York City. That exact morning 22 years ago, over 500 people gathered in the residential quad, comforted in what campus Chaplain Martin O’Connor called “the solace of knowing that we were not alone.”

The morning was overcast as the quad began to fill, but the sun came out with full force as the ceremony commenced, emphasizing the power of the light that can alleviate from darkness when a community gathers together.

Faces from all branches of campus convened around the university’s seal. The event was organized by the Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) and began with the Reserved Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) presenting the colors of the United States and Air Force.

O’Connor gave his remarks first, opening the ceremony with not only his scheduled prayer, but words of reflection and encouragement for the community.

O’Connor was one of many current members of the community on campus when the tragedy struck. “Somehow, some way,” he said. “UNH students and staff and faculty found their way to the residential quad just as the bright sun of a gruesome day gave way to the dusk and very uncertain future of that day and the days that followed.”

O’Connor paid explicit respects to a number of communities involved in the events that happened on Sept. 11, including the 343 firefighters who died in the front line of emergency response.

He invoked the morning’s moment of silence, before members of the university’s marching band flooded the gathering with their rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Upon its conclusion, USGA President Darby Brown took to the podium, thanking the university community for helping her plan the event. Groups of mention included the Fire Science Club, the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA), ROTC and the USGA.

Brown is 20 years old, making her just shy of having lived through the tragedies being remembered on Monday morning.

“I was always told that everyone remembers where they were when they found out. I don’t,” she said. “I have stories from family members, teachers and adults in my life, but I don’t have a story myself.”

She continued listing stories that she inherited secondhand, from sitting in her classroom and listening to teachers, or going to museums to learn the information she wasn’t old enough to have lived through. but ended by saying, “I have no stories of my own that I can share with you all.”

Brown prefaced that those in attendance were about to hear from students entering fields that were greatly impacted by the event and said that “While we may not have witnessed that day, we can bear witness to the healing and rebuilding as we work together to protect our country and the world.”

She closed her remarks by paying homage to the lives lost and impacted by Islamophobia after 9/11 and reminded the campus community of the Muslim Student Association’s Remember the Forgotten vigil taking place this week.

“I hope that we as a campus, as a community and as a country can come together to honor those we lost, and that we will never forget our part in the larger picture that is rebuilding every story,” Brown said before welcoming Interim President Sheahon Zenger to the podium.

“I simply want to say this,” Zenger said from the seal, “it’s an honor to be with you; it’s an honor to be at an institution like this that’s committed to the education of our nation’s first responders.”

Zenger soon after closed his remarks. “I would challenge us today on this campus,” he said, “to bear in mind that one of our chief purposes here – one of the things we do best – is educate those young people who are going to go forward, as we remember those we educated in the past.”

Kevin Boyle, senior criminal justice major and ROTC member, also stood before the crowd. He spoke about the fear his parents held on 9/11, as his mother was pregnant with him. “The entire world had just changed, and they were bringing a child right into it,” he said.

Boyle paid homage to those on the front lines, saying that without the bravery of first responders, “who knows where we would be.”

Boyle concluded by saying, “Keep these individuals in your hearts. while you may not know who they are, they did not know who you are either.”

The university is home to the Psi Omega chapter of the ACJA. Olivia Hall, ACJA president and junior criminal justice major, led into her speech by saying that “9/11 created tragedy, but it also created heroes.”

“Many thought this tragedy would break our nation, but instead it has made us stronger,” she said.

Allison Perry, a junior fire-science major and the president of the Fire Science Club, was the final student leader to speak on Monday morning. Reinstating the theme that today’s student leaders are younger than our nation’s tragedy, she said, “I was not alive to witness the twin towers fall, but I see the effects each and every day.”

“Today, we stand here letting the nation know that we will not forget; letting the families of the fallen know that we will not forget; letting the fallen know that we will not forget,” Perry said.

Perry closed, saying that “even if the nation forgets again when the next sun rises, we will continue to honor.”

Once ROTC retired the colors, the ceremony concluded with a rededication of the university’s memorial tree. Now, a sea of our country’s flags fly around the stump, honoring those whose lives were taken by the storm 22 years ago.