The program opened with remarks by Daniel Mathews, NVCC Newman Club Advisor. Mathews noted, “In so many ways it feels like 9/11 happened just yesterday. History was forever shaken.” Mathews followed his remarks by reading an Anniversary Prayer for 9/11 by Brother Darrell Burns, S.J.

The audience joined together to read A Psalm of David - Psalm 143 – A Prayer in Distress.  

Three NVCC students, Amelia McGee, Brianna Mattingly, and Emily Burns sang Irving Berlin’s God Bless America in a chorus arranged by Professor Gil Harel, Ph.D. The ceremony concluded with the placement of 161 American flags along the Poet’s Circle, where the college’s permanent 9/11 Memorial resides. The flags represent the 161 Connecticut citizens who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.