Students mark 9/11 anniversary

At Seton Hill University in Greensburg, about two dozen students, faculty members and staff gathered for a prayer and candle-lighting memorial that included Christian and Muslim prayers for peace.

Participants shared memories of that day, recalling the clear, sunny weather that contrasted so starkly with the day’s dark events, while others described the scene on Seton Hill’s campus as students with ties to New York and Washington desperately tried to reach their relatives.

Jack Ciak, a communications professor who was working on Wall Street that day, said he remembers more than 200 people standing in line outside a downtown hospital waiting to give blood. Not knowing how else to help, people flocked to the hospital, he said.

“Ten years later, I didn’t think I’d feel this intensely, but I do,” Ciak said.

For Jonathan Keslar, the events of Sept. 11 were a call to action. A home-schooled high school student at the time, Keslar said he felt fear, anger and hurt that someone had attacked his country. He joined the Air Force in 2006 and later suffered a leg injury. He now uses a cane.

“In my four years of service, I was only fortunate to do one tour of service,” Keslar said. “At first, I was really depressed. At the same time, I knew I had done what I set out to do. I had done what I was called to do.”

via Students mark 9/11 anniversary – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.