College of DuPage will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a memorial ceremony on Friday, Sept. 11, at its Glen Ellyn campus.
The ceremony runs from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. in the Honorable William J. Bauer Mock Courtroom inside the Robert J. Miller Homeland Security Education Center (HEC) at 425 Farwell Blvd. The timing coincides with the window when both World Trade Center towers were struck, the COD Courier reported.
Suburban Law Enforcement Academy recruits will present the colors and lead a ceremonial procession accompanied by bagpipers. Flowers will be placed at the college's 1,000-pound steel beam from the World Trade Center, which is permanently displayed inside the HEC.
The beam is believed to have come from a lower floor of one of the Twin Towers, with concrete still attached. COD obtained it in 2011 after being selected from among thousands of applicants. The college is one of a handful of educational institutions nationwide to house such an artifact, according to COD's official announcement.
The event is free and open to the public.
Featured speakers include COD president Muddassir Siddiqi, Homeland Security Training Institute manager John Mondelli, EMS/Fire Science program manager Brian Baudek and Suburban Law Enforcement Academy manager Michael Zegadlo.
Mondelli, who plans to recite the number of people killed in the attacks during the ceremony, said the event belongs to the whole campus.
"Every number was a person, a family and a life that was changed," Mondelli told the COD Courier.
He said he sees particular value in discussing Sept. 11 with newer police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel training at the college, some of whom were very young when the attacks happened or were not yet born.
A total of 2,977 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the four hijacked planes.
The ceremony will also include a moment of silence, historical photographs and a reflection wall where students, employees and visitors can share memories. The event will be livestreamed on the College of DuPage Facebook page.
