Riverside, Calif. (Sept. 14, 2015) – Students, faculty and staff at California Baptist University took time to mark the 14^th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

For the second year, the Associated Students of California Baptist University offered an opportunity to remember and honor the 2,977 people who lost their lives. At the Stamps Courtyard, students, faculty and staff took one of 2,977 flags, one for each victim, and placed the flag in the lawn, outlining a cross.

Makenna Lammons, ASCBU executive president and a junior psychology and criminal justice double major, wanted to hold the event again because it is important to take time to remember the nation's history, she said.

"We get stuck in our CBU bubble and we need to reflect on what has happened in the outside world," she said.

Mia Sewell, a sophomore psychology major, took time out of her day to place a flag. She was 5 when the attacks occurred. Her family was living in Santa Ana, California, at the time, but her father is from New York and had previously worked in the Twin Towers. She remembers a day of fear, mourning and confusion.

"It's important to remember because I think it was such a huge event in our culture. … It kind of shook us at our core and we were worried," she said. The event united her family and community. "We looked past all the stupid differences we fight about all the time, and we realized we're human and we love each other and we just want to be safe."

Greg Troehler, a pre-nursing senior, was attending college in North Carolina at the time. He remembers feeling helpless for the first time in his life, he said. The event led him to join the Army.

"It just shocked me and hurt my spirit so deeply that someone could organize, plan something so evil and so wicked," he said. "At the same time, I think it brings us together tighter because we have that appreciation for the freedom that we have, and it gave me the desire to contribute to that."

Joni Dunlap, office manager in residence life, was afraid to take her children to school that day 14 years ago. She is grateful for the ASCBU event to pull the campus together.

"I think that the lives that were lost still matter, and we need to remember their families and pray for them even this long after," she said.