Each year, SAL joins with millions of people around our nation and world to remember the events that took place on September 11, 2001. To honor the memory of those lost as well as the courage of those who pressed on in the midst of tragedy, SAL chapters around the country place American flags around an area of their campus.
The University of Oklahoma Chapter, among others, invited any students or others passing by on campus to help place the flags themselves. The University of Southern Mississippi Chapter made it a team effort by joining with two other campus organizations to commemorate the day, having students sign their names or even the names of lost loved ones on posters. Said USM Chapter President Johnny Brumfield, “There were hundreds of engaged students who were impacted. We had a total of over 250 names on the boards and nearly a hundred flags to be placed on the lawn. The most rewarding aspect was to be able to see each member of the three organizations successfully working together as a team with a common goal…This initiative was both impactful and electrifying! When all of the flags had been placed down, the lawn was left beautifully decorated with patriotism and honor…’Sigma Alpha Lambda Remembers’ was our slogan and that day, as The University of Southern Mississippi, we did just that.”
We know it is just a small gesture on our part, but we want those affected by that day’s events to know that they are not forgotten and that we remember the great loss of innocent lives as well as the courage of so many first responders and unsung heroes who risked their lives to help others that day and in the days that followed.
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
-from “The Star Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key
