A DIFFICULT DAY. That was evident from observing people, from conversing with people, from my own state of mind. We took time to thank the first responders and to award the first Forward, Together Forward scholarships.

Seventy-one students applied for the scholarships. Criteria were based on academics, achievements, community service, extracurricular activities, employment experience, hobbies and special interests.

“Rather than doing something purely on academics, we really felt it should be university-wide and a celebration of the character of those students we lost,” said Mallory Simpson, president of the NIU Foundation. “They were all collectively and individually phenomenal people.”

The first recipients are Deanna Bach (a composer!), Jacqueline Do, Scott Hudek, Justin Kuryliw, and Grace Weidner.

The memorial garden will include five granite panels with the motto and the names and some benches. Cole Hall is behind the camera to the left.


It seemed a logical place to leave candles after the vigil.


Nobody organized the candle placement, it happened. This woman is one of the last people to leave one in the planters outside Cole Hall.


The art gallery in the student center contained a number of items, including the 9-11 Quilt.


Students at St. Hilary School in Ohio made this for a school in New Jersey where many students lost parents at the Trade Center. Those students sent it to a school in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. From New Orleans it went to the Amish school in Pennsylvania, where the parents made the box, in the hope that the troubles of the world could be contained, before the students there sent it to Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech entrusted it to Northern Illinois.

Virginia Tech also set up six message boards that have not previously been shown publicly at Northern Illinois. They were set up at the reception (including hot chocolate with marshmallows) after the evening vigil.


This banner came from a DeKalb elementary school.


The University of Illinois message board includes an aspiring social scientist.


At the art gallery was a loop of television news clips, including an ABC News "Citizen of the Week" recognizing Northern Illinois University for getting back to business so quickly last year. Perhaps part of it was a brave face. Perhaps it was Midwestern reticence. The editorial board of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle considers these things.

NIU went above and beyond its duty in planning for this day of reflection. More than a dozen events were held including a commemoration ceremony, a concert, a memorial mosaic, a time capsule, an art exhibit, a video montage, a scholarship luncheon and a candlelight vigil.

Some would argue that it’s all a bit much. All this memorializing can be painfully overwhelming. But it’s necessary. We need to remember all that was lost on that cold February day. Not only did we lose the lives of five young people, but we lost our sense of security and innocence. Never before did we believe that such violence could happen here. We were wrong.

The editors suggest it's time to move on. Perhaps so, now that the university and the neighborhood have had an opportunity to release the sadness behind that show of fortitude ABC News observed.