Hofstra University administrators and community members placed red roses on the 9/11 Remembrance memorial wreath. Photo Courtesy: Hofstra University / Instagram

Twenty-three years after the tragedies of 9/11, the Hofstra University community came together to remember the alumni and students who lost their lives in the 2001 terrorist attack. 9/11 serves as a day to remember and reflect, and at C.V. Starr, that was the exact ambiance.

The small yet powerful ceremony started around 11:00 a.m., welcoming in students, administrators and families of those impacted during the 9/11 attacks. Around 100 people made for a day of sincere remembrance.

Among the many acts of remembrance in this memorial, members of the administration and the local community placed the names of those in the Hofstra family who were killed on red roses on a blue and white themed wreath with the words “In Remembrance Of September 11th, 2001.”

Jewels Joyel, the Student Government Association vice president and a sophomore forensic science major, was the master of ceremonies at the event and she expressed how important this day was for the community in and around Hofstra.

“I was, in specific, not born but I think it’s important to recognize the communities and the people who are affected who were born, and still affecting them today,” she said. “Taking this time to remember those events and remember and honor those people really unites the community, and I think that’s what is important about remembrance.”

Among the attendees was Hofstra President Susan Poser. “Today is 23 years since that awful day, a September day that looked a lot like today. A day that is seared into our individual and collective memory,” she said. 

Poser also referenced a memorial that is in front of C.V. Starr to commemorate those who died. “On this anniversary, we mourn them, along with the others lost. We continue to honor them with the 9/11 memorial here at Hofstra,” she said. “Where their names are inscribed on this sculpture right behind me, representing a phoenix, the mythological bird that is the symbol of rebirth.”

Lincoln Anniballi, Student Government Association president and a senior history and political science major, said that this ceremony is a very important way to honor those in the Hofstra family who perished.

“I think every community is strengthened when tragedy strikes, and to have these families attend this event today, it shows you that even though maybe their loved ones are the ones who are directly a part of the community, this is still their home here,” he said.

Anniballi joined retired Lieutenant Colonel Paul Flora from the class of 1968 to read the names of those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. 

“I’ve been doing this ceremony for close to 20 years; I keep coming back,” Flora said. “I’ve met several of the families and as you talk to them, they are very grateful for what Hofstra is doing because it’s keeping alive the memory of their loved ones who perished on that day.” 

Flora expressed that September 11, and its remembrance, are of the utmost importance. 

“For me, and I believe many of the people on campus, it’s the remembrance of the most terrible day in our history, in America,” Flora said. “All those people that lost their lives for just being in the building. Nothing to do with anything in the world, but just being in the building.”  

Multiple speakers reminisced on their personal experiences with 9/11. In his invocation, Rabbi Dave Siegel remembered his friend and said, “As I acknowledged last year, I don’t post much on social media, but I do today. One word: Zuck. The name of a childhood friend who was last seen running into his office to help get his coworkers out of tower two.”

Father John Crozier recalled his experience. “I overheard the news reporting that hijacked planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. And I remember asking my dad: what does ‘hijack’ mean,” he said. “From that moment on a sense of innocence had been lost but also a sense of what a hero looks like.”

Joyel explained remembrance means “finding the support that you need to look back on these events and promise that we, as a community, will support each other in the future, and say these things will not be allowed to continue.”

Those who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 and are inscribed on the memorial, include:

Kenneth M. Caldwell

John Cefalu

Joni Cesta

Susan Marie Clyne

Jeffrey M. Dingle

Andrew Fisher

Richard P. Fitzsimons

Joseph G. Hunter

Douglas G. Karpiloff

Joseph A. Kelly

Neil D. Levin

Alisha c. Levin

Noell C. Maerz

Edward J. Mardovich

Justin McCarthy

Alok K. Merta

Bernard E. Patterson

Edward J. Perrotta

Adam Ruhalter

Andrew J. Stern

Frederick T. Varacchi

Joshua Vitale

Courtney W. Walcott

Glenn E. Wilkinson

Glenn J. Winuk

Julie Lynn Zipper