Pete Moye’
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Military officials, police officers, firefighters, faculty and students attended a patriotic ceremony at the Falcon Square Amphitheater to mourn and celebrate the anniversary of the attacks that took place a decade ago on Sept. 11, 2001.
The celebration was hosted by the ASCC and it started with presentations of the Color Guard, Flag Salute and the “Star Spangled Banner” performed by the Cerritos College Vocal Ensemble.
After the patriotic presentations, guest speaker Lt. Col. Jeff Nagel approached the podium. Nagel began his speech by telling his story with the historic date, he mentioned that he was born on the date and he had two close friends passed away from serving the country like he did. He later continued by quoting John F. Kennedy ‘s famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
He later explained the significance of the quote by saying, “It’s not just what we can gather from ourselves, our wealth, our riches, our success, but it’s what we can give to our society that makes our society better.”
Nagel encouraged the younger generation by explaining the significance of the phrase ‘giving back’ and saying, “When there’s too many takers and not enough givers, not only will it not contribute to our future success but we will regress as a nation.”
Following Nagel’s speech, students sat quietly and reflected during Cerritos College’s band and Vocal Ensemble performed “America.” Flags were waving and hands were clapping during the performance.
“Peace begins with you and me,” a quote from a reflection of one of the members of the ASCC read. Other members of the ASCC also read reflections that current faculty and former faculty wrote about the 9/11 tragedies.
Click Here to listen to attendees of the 9/11 ceremony that was held on campus.
The Cerritos College Band performed “Stars and Stripes” after the reflections.
“It was beautiful”, ASCC president Jasmin Ramirez said about the celebration. She continued with “I was very excited to see a lot of students on campus go ahead and sit down and join us for the event.”
Ramirez enjoyed Nagel’s speech, saying, “He was so awesome, his speech was so motivating … it was honestly perfect and fitting for our campus.”
Dr. Linda Lacy ended the celebration with closing remarks hoping students will never forget the innocent lives that were lost.
Men and women that serve as firefighters and police officers also attended the event and learned just as much as the students.
“Even if you’re a student or in our profession, or in any profession, it’s about what difference you can make to help others and making your imprint in our society,” LA County Firefighter Brandon Vouz said about the message of the celebration.
