For Gillian Cartwright, applying to become a Remembrance Scholar at Syracuse University was an easy decision.

She recalls previous scholars that told her it is a very rewarding experience. It was an opportunity she simply couldn’t pass up.

‘I knew the scholars were some of the most active and engaging people on campus,’ said Cartwright, a senior sociology and policy studies major. ‘The whole idea of the scholarship is powerful and important. There’s really a good lesson to be learned from the unfortunate tragedy.’

Cartwright was referring to a terrorist attack roughly 18 years ago, when 35 SU students lost their lives aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when plastic explosives in the aircraft’s forward cargo hold were set off, leading to its eventual destruction.

The plane, which took off from Heathrow International Airport on Dec. 21, 1988 and was expected to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was taking SU students home from a semester abroad in London.

The act of terrorism killed a total of 270 people, including 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. Before Sept. 11, the bombing was the worst terrorist attack against the United States.

In honor of those students, SU named Cartwright and 34 other seniors as the recipients of the 2006-2007 Remembrance Scholarship.

Audrey Burian, selection committee coordinator, said she received about 120 applications, which then narrowed to about half that size by the scholarship’s selection committee.

From that point, all remaining applicants were interviewed by a small group of administrators and the previous year’s remembrance scholars, Burian said. Following the interviews is a discussion and voting, which eventually whittles the pool of 60 to the requisite 35.

Burian said she wishes the scholarship’s initial applicant pool would be as large as it used to be. Instead of the approximate 120 that submitted applications for the 2006-2007 scholarship, she remembers the number being at least 250 when she first started.

‘Students think they have to have a high GPA, but there is no GPA requirement,’ Burian said. ‘We want the cream of the crop, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to make it. I just would hope people would not predetermine that they’re not likely to get it. There are a lot of highly qualified students that just never apply.’

Allison McManus, a senior film and drama major and one of this year’s scholars, said she felt the application – consisting of three biographical questions, three essays and a letter of recommendation – was ‘too extensive.’

‘The application is discouraging in itself,’ said McManus, citing its extreme length and the time it takes to complete as the reason participation has dropped. ‘It asks you questions you wouldn’t see too often. I didn’t think I would get (the scholarship).’

Judith O’Rourke, director of undergraduate studies, said selecting 35 Remembrance Scholars each year keeps the discussion of terrorism at the forefront of the SU community.

‘We need to remember that it’s up to us to do everything in our own individual power to try and prevent terrorism,’ O’Rourke said. ‘At its heart, terrorism is the response when people feel they have no other way to communicate except to kill. It’s important for all of us to make ways for us to communicate so that terrorism does not become, in someone’s mind, the only option they have.’

The Remembrance Scholars will attend a convocation at Hendricks Chapel on Nov. 3, Burian said. Scheduled to speak are David Rubin, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Rev. Thomas Wolf and one newly-inducted Remembrance Scholar who speaks on behalf of the group.

Preceding convocation is Remembrance Week, which allows the scholars to interact with students on campus through projects and exhibits. It is still in the planning stages and is tentatively scheduled to begin Oct. 29.

‘The scholarship keeps the campus aware of the opportunity in front of us and how important it is to take advantage of it,’ Cartwright said. ‘Again we’re in a global situation where terrorism is in the front of our minds. It’s good to bring it home here and not only honor their memories, but to choose a career where we are globally sensitive, so this doesn’t happen to another generation.’

Published on August 29, 2006 at 12:00 pm