One year later, NIU remembers with a 'renewed sense of unity and purpose'
In DeKalb Saturday, five white crosses formed a neat row near the spot where five white crosses had stood a year earlier, each a reminder of a life that was cut short in a horrific act of violence on Valentine's Day 2008.
The Northern Illinois University family marked the anniversary of the shootings with a series of events that honored the five students it lost that day, thanked the countless people who extended compassion in the year following, and looked ahead with hope and love.
"We have the bittersweet gift of perspective after one year has passed," NIU President John G. Peters said during a candlelight vigil Saturday night. "Many of us are stunned by the intensity of our feelings at this time. But the only answer to hate is love."
"Let our flames burn bright tonight. We are determined not to let one act of violence define us," he told a crowd of more than one thousand people at the vigil.
Gathered in the NIU Martin Luther King Commons for the 6 p.m. vigil, students, faculty and family members observed a moment of silence, and listened to the playing of Taps and Peters' remarks.
Five individual pots of burning flames were placed on the stage, to represent each of the students killed. Individual candles were then lit from those flames and passed among the crowd until the entire courtyard was bathed in golden light.
Peters started the day off by speaking of the university's character and strength in defining its own legacy and succeeding in the face of tragedy.
"We are strengthened by a renewed sense of unity and purpose," he told a crowd of students, staff and families during a remembrance ceremony Saturday morning at the NIU Convocation Center.
On Saturday afternoon, the victims' families laid wreaths on the spot of a planned permanent memorial. As the campus bell tolled and hundreds of onlookers fell silent, the families walked from Martin Luther King Commons to Cole Hall, the site of the Feb. 14, 2008 shooting.
The parents, along with Peters, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, then laid wreaths in front of each of five spots where a cardinal red granite stone will represent each victim: Gayle Dubowski of Carol Stream; Catalina Garcia of Cicero; Julianna Gehant of Mendota; Ryanne Mace of Carpentersville; and Dan Parmenter of Westchester. The privately-funded Memorial Garden will feature a curved walkway along the five illuminated sections of granite, models of which were in place Saturday.
As part of its mission to build something positive out of the tragedy, the university on Saturday named five current students winners of the first "Forward, Together Forward" scholarships, awarded in honor of the shooting victims. The scholarship winners are: Deanna Bach of Wheaton, Jacqueline Do of DeKalb, Scott Hudek of Downers Grove, Justin Kuryliw of DeKalb and Grace Weidner of Gurnee.
The message was clear: by following through on your own goals and dreams, you will be honoring those who were taken so suddenly from the NIU family a year ago, officials said.
"Gail, Catalina, Julianna, Ryanne and Dan all had dreams, and we honor them by fulfilling our own dreams. Every degree we grant, ever breakthrough we celebrate is their legacy," Cherilyn Murer, chair of the NIU board of trustees, told the crowd in the Convocation Center.
Students also used the day to talk about and share their memories of the victims.
In a dramatic, fast-paced reading, five theater and dance students gave tributes to the victims. Dressed in black and standing at five evenly spaced podiums at the Convocation Center, they interwove tributes to the five victims with examples of character drawn from sports, literature and history.
They spoke of Julianna Gehant's optimism, Daniel Parmenter's unselfishness, Ryanne Mace's enjoyment of life, Catalina Garcia's extroverted nature and Gayle Dubowski's vocal intelligence, drawing parallels between the students and revered figures such as Confucius, Winston Churchill and Michael Jordan.
The theater and dance students also thanked the countless individuals who offered support to the mourning campus during the past year, including the 300 counselors who helped students adjust to a "new normal," NIU students who constructed makeshift memorials, the Virginia Tech students and staff who held a candlelight vigil in a show of solidarity with NIU, and the emergency personnel who helped save the lives of students who were injured in Cole Hall.
Pianist HaeRim Yoo from the School of Music performed Claude Debussy's haunting, ephemeral "Clair de Lune" as silent hundreds of students, faculty and family fixed their eyes on the stage. The Convocation Center rose to listen to Amanda Brex sing the alma mater.
While most NIU students, staff and families have seemingly returned to business as usual, many will always carry the tragedy of Feb. 14 with them.
"There's not an hour that I don't think of the shooting," said Grace Weidner, who was in Cole Hall when the shootings took place.
Daily Herald Staff Writer Vincent Pierri contributed to this report.
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