Sept. 11, 2002 — Sprawled on the steps of Washington Square Park on the New York University campus, 21-year-old Sara Hefton took in a typical summer afternoon last week with a book and a cup of coffee.
It's hard to believe, Hefton said, that one year ago the scene at Washington Square Park — some 20 blocks from where the World Trade Center towers stood — was anything but typical.
One year later, Hefton and her fellow NYU students are still trying to make sense of what happened the morning of Sept. 11 and come to terms with the loss of 25 NYU community members.
Students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. remember the date from a different perspective.
Sophomore Joanna Wusinick's stomach still drops every time a plane passes overhead.
For Wusinick, planes carry memories of Sept.11, the day her university was closed, and her city became a ghost town.
"I walked out of my 9:30 a.m. political science class, and I saw people running, talking on cell phones, crying; it was crazy," she said.
Back at Ohio University, students illuminated six quilts on the West Portico Wall of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium in commemoration and support.
From a distance, the quilts make up a graffiti wall of red, white and blue. But closer inspection displays a wall of pride, remembrance and love for the victims and survivors of Sept. 11.
The quilts were placed around the Athens community and in OU dining halls earlier this week for decoration, said Dirk Dusthimer, chair of the cultural arts for the University Program Council. He hopes the quilts will be remembered for what happened and how people were affected by the events.
"The quilts represent feelings and emotions people have about Sept. 11," Dusthimer said.
Laura Withers, Colleen Schmidt and Sara Bisker contributed to this story.
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