For Jillian Cole, death of a classmate was not unknown.

This is partially what drove Cole to become a Remembrance Scholar.

‘I had several friends die in high school, and it would have been amazing if someone had commemorated their lives and their deaths,’ she said.

Cole, a senior civil engineering major, is representing Sarah Philipps, a junior from the University of Colorado at Boulder who was studying in London through Syracuse University’s DIPA program when the Pan Am Flight 103 crash took her life.

When reading Philipps’ profile, Cole said she was instantly drawn to her personality.

‘After reading her profile, I realized that Sarah was someone I was striving to be,’ Cole said.

But Cole said that reading Sarah’s profile was more than just realizing their personal connections.

‘When you read the profiles, you learn about their lives and their goals. Then you quickly realize these students were killed and never reached their goals. That is when you become sad.’

Published on October 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm