Remembrance Week 2025 to reflect, remember, act forward

It has been 37 years since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 35 Syracuse University students.

Oct. 19–25 marks the annual Remembrance Week, a weeklong memorial for the SU community to look back and act forward with kindness and advocacy.

Throughout the week’s events, the 259 people onboard the flight and the 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland, who were killed by the wreckage are remembered.

Each year, 35 Syracuse seniors are selected as Remembrance Scholars to represent each one of the students killed in the bombing, emulating their spirits and often chosen for their similarities.

Syracuse senior Nico Horning, who is this year’s convocation speaker, is representing Richard Monetti. Horning said Monetti’s friends and family told him about who Monetti was.

“(He) had a great sense of humor, a great passion for journalism and making the most of every day, and I think I’ve just tried to emulate that,” Horning said.

The mission of the Remembrance Scholars is to educate the campus about the tragedy and let the memories of the students they represent live on through service and advocacy projects.

Remembrance Scholar Annaliese Pillitteri said Remembrance Week is a time for the entire community to participate in “giving voices to people who have lost their voices and lost their lives based on acts of terrorism, and how we move forward for advocacy.”

Upcoming Remembrance Week Events:

Sunday, Oct. 19

• Remembrance and Resilience, Hendricks Chapel, 4 p.m.  — Setnor School of Music students honor victims of violence and terrorism, including those lost in the Pan Am 103 Air Disaster
• Candlelight Vigil, Hendricks Chapel steps, 5:30 p.m.  — The Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars will open Remembrance Week with a Candlelight Vigil.

Wednesday, Oct. 22

• Sitting in Solidarity, Quad, 2 p.m. — Remembrance Scholars sit in an arrangement mimicking the exact seating chart of the Pan Am flight.
• Film Screening: “Return to Lockerbie with Lorraine Kelly”, H.B. Crouse Kitteridge Auditorium, 7 p.m. — The British Broadcasting Corporation documentary will be followed by a Q&A session.

Thursday, Oct. 23

• Act Forward Symposium, Allyn Innovation Center (first floor, Link Hall), 6 p.m. — Remembrance Scholars present their group projects.
• Lockerbie Scholars Presentation, Link Hall Room 160, 7 p.m. — 10 students from Lockerbie Academy share their personal experiences connected to the Pan Am flight.

Friday, Oct. 24

• Laying of the Roses Ceremony, Place of Remembrance, 2 p.m. — Each scholar places a rose in honor of a student’s memory during a moment of silence.
• Remembrance Scholar Convocation, Hendricks Chapel, 3 p.m. — Concludes the week with closing remarks from the scholars and a convocation speech by senior Nico Horning.

All events are open to the public, and no registration is required.

“It’s just a good reminder to step outside what you’re doing for a minute and know that there’s other stuff going on, ways to make your community a little bit better, and this is one of the ways you can do that,” Horning said.