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Though Syracuse University won’t hold its annual Remembrance Week this October, the Remembrance Scholar Program will still host several events virtually throughout the year.

Remembrance Week commemorates the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. The bombing killed 270 people, including 35 SU students.

To accommodate coronavirus-related guidelines, Remembrance events will take place virtually starting in October and will continue throughout the year, said Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, SU’s Pan Am 103 archivist and assistant university archivist.

“Given everything going on, there’s not going to be a Remembrance Week the way that there has been in previous years,” St. Oegger-Menn said. “Our hope is that, by the spring semester, we’ll find ourselves in a position where we can be back together in person a bit more and continue with hybrid planning, where there would be an in-person component and a virtual component.”

Every year, the SU Remembrance Scholar Selection Committee chooses 35 SU seniors to represent the students who died in the bombing. The committee also selects two students from Lockerbie to attend SU tuition-free for a year to honor the 11 Scottish residents who died in the bombing, as well as Andrew McClune, a former Lockerbie Scholar who died during his time on campus.

While this year’s Remembrance Program will look different than any other year in SU’s history, Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars said they look forward to hosting events throughout the year and educating students about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

The Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars are exploring ways to use social media and other virtual platforms to involve students in the program, said Andrew Benbenek, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major and 2020 Remembrance Scholar.

“We’ve seen what past Remembrance Scholars have done, but now we have to be creative (with) what can we do to make everything happen as normal as possible and not let the effects of (COVID-19) stray away from what Remembrance is supposed to feel like,” Benbenek said.

Remembrance events in the first semester will likely include panelist discussions about Pan Am Flight 103 and modern-day terrorism, St. Oegger-Menn said. The two main Remembrance Week events — the Rose-Laying Ceremony and Remembrance Scholar convocation — will likely take place in the spring, she said.

Aidan Kevans, one of this year’s Lockerbie Scholars, said he’s disappointed that the Remembrance Program won’t look the same as it has in previous years, but the virtual format will allow him and the other Lockerbie scholar to involve members of their hometown in Remembrance activities more than usual.

Both Lockerbie Scholars were still able to travel to SU for the school year and attend classes on campus, Kevans said.

“One advantage of moving virtual for this semester is that we can broadcast events to anyone who wants to participate and join in,” Kevans said. “This allows us to connect more with the people of Lockerbie and adds a personal touch for me.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars to be more innovative in planning events this year, Kevans said. This year’s cohort will have to look at the Remembrance Program in a completely new light and engage the community in different ways, he said.

“It’s going to change the way people view Remembrance,” Benbenek said. “Now we’re going to be talking about it all year, so I think that’s going to be a part that is going to change just the amount of knowledge students have.”

While the Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars are still planning this year’s events, their main goal is to reach as many people as possible, Benbenek said. The scholars are also striving to make this year’s Remembrance events memorable, he said.

Although the 2020 Remembrance Program will be unlike anything the Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars expected when they applied, they’re still grateful for the opportunity.

“Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in wholesale changes for Remembrance, there is no doubt I am still thankful that I can be part of this program,” Kevans said. “The coronavirus may have changed physical proceedings, but for me, the sentiment hasn’t changed at all.”

Published on September 20, 2020 at 9:10 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss