By Lucia Allen, News Correspondent

‘ On Friday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m., the Student Government Association (SGA) hosted a memorial service allowing the Northeastern community to reflect upon the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The event was organized by Alex Graber, a junior behavioral neuroscience major and director of special projects for SGA, in collaboration with Welcome Week.
‘We wanted to keep it short, but at the same time give people time to remember and reflect on what happened on Sept. 11,’ Graber said.
Graber was living in New Jersey at the time of the attacks.
‘A lot of volunteers weren’t doing it for the money,’ Graber said. ‘They liked helping people, so we should just try to remember that.’
About 50 students, members of the administration and passers-by attended the 15-minute service, held in the Krentzman Quad. There was a short introduction of the reflect speakers for the evening followed by the singing of the national anthem by campus a capella group, Distilled Harmony.
Sophomore psychology major Ashley Caron, an SGA senator and member of Distilled Harmony, said she was asked by junior computer engineering major and SGA president Ryan Fox earlier in the summer if she would like to come sing at the memorial and Caron passed along the message to the group.
‘I definitely felt solemn [singing today]. It’s a very solemn event remembering everything. I think [this] is important because somehow Sept. 11 touched all our lives in one way or another,’ Caron said.
Caron said she had a family friend almost board a plane headed for California, one of the planes later crashed into one of the towers. Luckily, Caron said, her friend’s boss called 20 minutes beforehand, saying he was being transferred to another flight.
‘It was very chaotic,’ Caron said.
Amanda Sabia, the chosen student speaker for the event and SGA vice president of academic affairs, said a few words after the anthem reflecting upon the memorial.
‘It has been eight years since the World Trade Center attacks, but to many of us, it feels like only yesterday,’ Sabia said.
Sabia made sure to mention Candance Williams, the 21-year-old Northeastern business administration student who lost her life on one of the planes. She had been in-flight for a week’s vacation to California, Sabia said. There is a memorial stone placed in Krentzman Quad in her memory.
Sabia wanted to get involved in the service, having felt deeply affected by the events that occurred on Sept. 11.
‘My father was in the army, so he had gone in a week after they detoxed [Ground Zero] and helped clean up. I knew a lot of people who were involved, whether it be people who died or people who cleaned up.’
The memorial ended with a brief, non-denominational prayer by Shelli Jankowski-Smith, director of spiritual life and a moment of silence before a few words were given ending the service.
‘I think it’s important to both pay tribute to those individuals [who lost their lives or were affected by Sept. 11], but also to allow our students a time to remember and be aware [that] the opportunity [is] there,’ Fox said.
Fox said a number of students have reached out to SGA and thanked them for providing an opportunity to reflect.
Senior Northeastern Police Department (NUPD) officer, Michael Hennessey, who has attended every year the memorial has taken place and represented the NUPD,’ knew a few people who were affected. Hennessey said he thought it was a nice tribute.
‘We can’t forget what happened on that day,’ Hennessey said. ‘I thought it was very respectful and done very appropriately and they should keep doing it every year ‘hellip; You can’t forget what happened.’