Renovations to the Place of Remembrance are coming to a close this week as the annual Remembrance Week events approach.

The refurbishing of the memorial began in May and was set to finish by the end of October. The goal was for the Place of Remembrance to be finished in time for Remembrance Week.

The Place of Remembrance is Syracuse University’s memorial to the 35 students and two Clay, N.Y., residents killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988.

The updated Wall of Remembrance has new limestone to better withstand outdoor elements, restored light fixtures on the columns flanking the Gateway to Campus area and an upgrade to staircases and sidewalks.

The names of the 35 students on the Wall of Remembrance were also restored, said Kelly Rodoski, communications manager for SU News Services.

Laura Foti, a Remembrance Scholar and senior public relations major, said she believes the refurbished Place of Remembrance will become a special area on campus for the SU community.

“This will be a place where victims’ families can reflect and students can feel the presence of the lives that were lost,” Foti said.

It was important to all 35 of the Remembrance Scholars, she said, that construction on the memorial was finished before Remembrance Week. The railings that are currently on the sides of the Place of Remembrance are temporary, Foti said, and will eventually be replaced.

Although Foti has not seen the completed Place of Remembrance, she said she “knows it will look beautiful.”

Rodoski, who was a freshman at SU in 1988 when the tragedy occurred, has promoted Remembrance Week as communications manager for SU News Services for several years. As a member of the SU community, she said, the construction means a lot to her.

“The construction just shows how important Remembrance Week is to the university and how it’s a huge part of the community, even though it happened 25 years ago,” Rodoski said.

Both the Place of Remembrance and the Gateway to Campus — the two stairways leading to the Hall of Languages — were a part of the restoration project by the Office of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction.

Rodoski said the best chance to see the new renovations will be the Rose Laying Ceremony on Oct. 26. The ceremony will honor those whose lives were lost.

As a tradition every year, the Remembrance Scholars and Lockerbie Scholars lay roses at the Wall of Remembrance at 2:03 p.m., which was the exact time of the disaster, according to a Remembrance Week schedule.

“Most of the students today weren’t even born when it happened, so it says a lot as a university that it’s at the forefront of everyone’s mind,” Rodoski said. “Pan Am 103 holds important lessons today about terrorism, teaching and moving forward.”

 

 

Published on October 18, 2012 at 2:50 am

Contact Meredith: mhnewman@syr.edu | @MerNewman93