Mary Rees: Good morning, we're going to be starting soon with our 9/11 tribute.
We'll just wait for a few minutes till the group starts to, to let more people come in, thank you.
Good morning, we're gonna wait another minute here while we're, people join us for our 9/11 tribute this morning, hope everyone is doing well.
Dianne McKay: Bernardo's on chat so he's here somewhere, right?
Mary: Good morning, again, we're waiting, just a minute before we start our 9/11 tribute. We appreciate you all being with us this morning as we remember.
Good morning, wanna welcome you to Moorpark College's 9/11 tribute. Just as a reminder, the tribute is going is being
recorded. The recorded will be captioned and will be posted on the Moorpark College website.
Also, if you are interested, the event will be closed captioned. If you click at the bottom of your screen on the "CC" there'll be closed captioned.
There will not, we will not be taking questions in the Q&A. However, if you want to express your thoughts with the community, please feel free to type them into the chat.
Thank you. For this morning's tribute, we will never forget, we will never forget.
Going to start with a welcome from President Julius Sokenu, a as well as from Chair Board Chair Bernardo Perez. We have a video on love, hope and resilience memorating 9/11 followed by a moment of silence and closing remarks from Chancellor Gillespie.
President Sokenu?
Julius Sokenu: Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us as we remember and celebrate the lives of those lost on September 11.
September 11 has been acknowledged as Patriot Day and National Day of Remembrance.
Patriotism in action is the way to honor that's lives and the commitment of those 792 people lost on that fateful day on September 2001.
Service is a commitment to our evolving democracy to honor the first responders, to celebrate the bravery of the men and women who ran into burning buildings, we serve others.
Now, in the midst of a pandemic, we go back to those early days of September 11th, what do our people do to honor the following?
We donated blood, we checked in on our neighbors, we gave to charities, we enlisted, we patronized our small businesses, we volunteered in schools,
in hospitals, in food banks, and in essence we cared. I thank you for joining us this morning, I want to acknowledge the presence of Board member, Board Chair
Mr. Bernardo Perez, Trustee Dianne McKay, and also our great Chancellor of our community college district Dr. Greg Gillespie. To welcome you from our board, please, he's here to welcome from our board, is Board Chair Bernardo Perez.
Bernardo Perez: Good morning everyone, hope you can hear me.
This is always a very solemn occasion and
gives everyone I think pause to think, and today, one of my thoughts is that
when there's seemingly little occasion that people can come together,
I want to thank Moorpark College for bringing us all together,
on this occasion, and,
and that's really all I have to say, so thank you. [Julius]: Thank you
Chair Perez.
The video you're about to see not only celebrates and acknowledges the service and the sacrifice of those lost on 9/11, but it is an attempt to remind us that
to be able to say that we truly remember, we need to commit to love, we need to commit to hope, and most important, we need to be resilient in our struggle to make sure that the dream of this democracy that is ever evolving and always, always very tangible
continues. So with no further ado, Love, Hope, and Resilience, a video that celebrates and honors and pays tribute to the lives of the fallen, and featured in this video our two of our vets from our Moorpark College Veterans Resource Center.
Ryan Spires: From doing military funeral honors, I've met a lot of people that were in that war, in the aftermath of 9/11 and a lot of people that had joined because of 9/11
and it was an incredible experience to perform those kind of ceremonies for their fallen comrades and it's just an incredible feeling.
piano music On screen text: Love, Hope & Resilience
A tribute to the patriots of 9/11
Ryan: My name is Ryan Spires I was in the US Navy for five years. I was a SEAL Worker Second Class, and for the first four years I was in a naval mobile construction battalion unit,
and for the last year I did military funeral honors.
Ben Scotti: My name is Ben Scotti. I'm a six year Navy veteran, I worked as an aviation maintenance administration man,
in about nine different squadrons over a period of six years.
Ryan: I definitely felt like it was a calling, I also felt like it was an honor, because these people they're, it's their last moments, it's their last moments to say goodbye to their loved one, and when I
think about that when I'm, when I'm presenting that folded flags their next of kin, you know, and they're looking at me and they're looking for some kind of words of
encouragement, and it just, it's an honor to be the one to comfort them in that way.
Ben: I was in fourth grade, and they kept us in the dark, the whole day.
They would, they would because who wants to tell fourth graders the country's at war?
Ryan: When I think about those things, especially when I was in uniform, I,
I felt like I was honoring them and everybody else who had lost their lives in the war after that, because I was still here, I could represent them, I could be a symbol for
honor, and hope, and commitment really, to our country.
Ben: They line us up for our buses and all the, the teachers, the, the guidance counselor and principal we're asking students if they knew where their parents were,
and because my town, I'm from a town called Bernardsville, New Jersey, which was an hour away from New York City, so most of the people in our town commuted every morning, were actually in the city that day.
Ryan: It made me think about what those people went through, especially the people that were on the planes, who had realized what was happening, and the people that crashed in Pennsylvania.
It made me think about the families when I went to Washington DC and saw the crash at the Pentagon, it really it, it hit me because it made me realize
that these were actual people, it wasn't just a story that you're told when you're a kid.
Chancellor Greg Gillespie: At 8:46 on the morning of September 11 in 2001 a plane flew into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
19 years later we, as a country united still pause at this moment in time in solemn remembrance of the lives that were lost and the lives that were forever changed by the events of that day. We remember the images, we remember the feelings, we remember the faces, and we remember the names.
[bagpipes player plays "Amazing Grace"]
[bagpipes player plays "Amazing Grace"] (Text on screen: Names of those we remember who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Refer to the Microsoft Word transcript file to view names.)
Julius: This poem is called The Names. It's by the American poet laureate Billy Collins and Billy Collins wrote this poem last year in commemoration, in celebration, I would say, you know, in remembrance of the 2,792 souls who passed that day, on September 11.
"The Names"
"Names etched on the head of a pin.
one name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers mothers, and fathers, the bright eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds, names lifted from a hat,
or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room
on the walls of the heart."
Ben: I know a poem.
"This old town's been here as long as I remember, this town's gonna be here long after I'm gone.
Eastside, westside, take a close look around her, you've been home you will always be in my bones."
Ryan: If I can have the world, my way, honestly, I think we would all just,
you know, live your life you know every neighbor knows each other, everyone is happy and
where I live, I know every single one of my neighbors. I know all of them, and they know me, and we exchange gifts and we, you know, I bring them jam and they bring me pie, and I just want
I wish that the world could be like that. I wish that everyone could just accept that we're different. I want to be able to go all over the world and just feel welcome...
and I want them to feel welcome, when they come to our country.
piano music On screen text: Love, Hope, & Resilience
A tribute to all patriots.
Moorpark College Remembers.
A film by Dina Pielaet in partnership with Johnny Conley & John Loprieno and our special vets of the MC VRC: Benjamin Scotti & Ryan Spires. "The Names" written by Billy Collins, read by Dr. Julius Sokenu, Moorpark College President. "We Remember" by John Loprieno, Read by Dr. Greg Gillespie, VCCCD Chancellor. Bagpiper: Alan Wood.
Never Forget. © 9.11.2020 Moorpark College
Mary: Like to have a moment in silence, in remembrance.
Chancellor Gillespie has some closing remarks for us.
Chancellor Gillespie: Thank you for participating today in the remembrance of lives lost as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The tragic loss of life occurred to everyday Americans going about their normal activities, the response to the tragedy demonstrated what is best in humanity,
as civilization, as civilians and first responders helped to rescue and save others with their sacrifice in the trade center buildings, the Pentagon, and Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania,
heroes all. So many demonstrated love, hope, resilience that day and the days that followed. We are here to commemorate and remember them.
Let each of us bring what is best in humanity forward to meet what we can seem like is an overwhelming maelstrom today,
a pandemic that has claimed nearly 200,000 lives in the country, lives lost indoors to opportunity, closed due to systemic racism, social injustice, and inequality,
and fires in the west destroying life, homes, and communities. Love, hope, resilience will support us through the challenges we face today and in the future. Together we can take actions to be everyday heroes in service to each other and help lift humanity upward and forward.
Thank you again for remembering with us today.
Julius: Thank you so much, Chancellor Gillespie. We appreciate the presence of everyone today and your comments again are welcomed in the chat, the preceding events will be recorded and will be available on the Moorpark College website. Thank you.