Search form

You are here

QCC Hosts Remembrance Event to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Sept. 11

September 2021
  • Sept. 11
  • Sept 11

At Quinsigamond Community College, a somber and thoughtful group listened as QCC Vice President of Academic Affairs, James M. Keane, Ed.D. and students Kristina Chacon and Nana Konadu Agyemang Duah, paid homage to the 20th Anniversary of September 11, 2021, when our nation was attacked and forever changed. The event was held at the College’s Peace Pole on September 10, and featured a moment of reflection, and recommitment to peace and respectfulness among all people.

QCC President Luis G. Pedraja, Ph. D. sent his thoughts and reflections to the QCC college community.

“No one who was alive during 9/11/01 will ever forget where they were on that infamous day. Time stood still and we all watched helplessly as the freedoms this nation affords us, were tested beyond anything we could have ever imagined. On September 11, 2001 at 8:46 am our world was forever changed.

Yet, through the midst of the horror and devastation of that day something profound happened. Our nation banded together in a show of patriotism and solidarity. In that moment, we became one family. In the days, weeks, and months after 9/11, our first responders, our service members, and the families of those who lost loved ones, showed us how to find our way out of the darkness through their courage, undeniable grace and unimaginable strength.

As we humbly, and with reverence, remember that day 20 years ago, we pay our respects to those victims who were tragically lost.

The pain of this day is still fresh even after 20 years. It is made even more palpable with the recent and tragic loss of 13 service members and at least 92 civilian causalities on August 26 of this year in Kabul, Afghanistan. Our hearts go out to them and their families. There are no words of solace, just as there are no words of solace for the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001.

We must never forget what our service members have gone though in the last 20 years in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. We thank them for their service and their commitment to uphold the values we hold most sacred.

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a time of deep reflection. Each year at this time I am reminded that we must take the lessons we’ve learned from that fateful day, and put them into action. At QCC, a Peace Pole was erected on our campus, alongside a weeping cherry tree on the first anniversary of September 11. These are continual reminders that we must all strive for peace at our college, in our community, country and the world.

Share
randomness