The Daily Orange

Syracuse University graduate student Alec Waggoner died early this morning after being hit by an SUV while riding a bike in Thornden Park, university officials said. Waggoner, 23, a first-year graduate student in The College of Arts and Sciences, died at University Hospital around 3 a.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and 11 residents of Lockerbie who were on the ground.

Michael Grzelak and Eric Coker have a lot in common - hiking and a love for arguing. They are separated by 20 years - Coker was a victim of Pan Am Flight 103. "He loved to argue and he always had his facts ready to go," Grzelak said, a quality he feels connected him most with Coker.

As a Remembrance Scholar, Nida Javaid represents Mark Tobin, a Fordham University student and victim of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing that took place 20 years ago. Javaid, a senior political science, economics and history major, has interned at the U.S. State Department.

By Michael Boren Contributing writer The car-sharing service Zipcar became available to Syracuse University students Monday, giving SU a new mode of transportation and students the ability to rent vehicles on their own time. Fourteen students had registered for the service in its first three days, said Al Sauer, director of parking and transit services at SU.

Michael Rizzolo walked past a poster of Scott Cory in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management every year. When Rizzolo became a Remembrance Scholar, he knew exactly who he would choose to commemorate. Rizzolo, a senior finance and accounting major, knew about the honor of being a Remembrance Scholar, but the journey of discovering Cory was worth it entirely by itself, Rizzolo said.

Samantha Harmon has felt a connection to Luann Rodgers since her freshman year at Syracuse University. She walked by the posters hanging in the Shaffer Art Building almost every day. Rodgers was a student from the Maryland Institute of Art. She was studying abroad through SU when she was killed 20 years ago in the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103.

They share the same first name. They both studied in London during the fall semesters of their junior years. Shannon McLoughlin, a public relations and marketing major is representing and honoring Shannon Davis, a junior child development major, who was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 attack.

Melanie Hicken has been working at The Daily Orange since the second week of her freshman year. In the past few months, Hicken has gotten to know Amy Shapiro well. But because of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, Hicken and Shapiro will never meet. Hicken, the Remembrance Scholar who represents Shapiro, said there is a deep connection between them.

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.

Graham Douglass has been chosen to represent Pan Am Flight 103 victim Turhan Ergin for Remembrance Week. "The honor comes along with the responsibility to maintain and remember the lives and dreams these students had before they died," Douglass said. The scholars did research to choose which fallen student they wanted to represent.

Senior architecture major Ryan Doyle will represent Pan Am Flight 103 victim Nicholas Andreas Vrenios as one of 35 Remembrance Scholars of Syracuse University. Originally from Niskayuna, N.Y., Doyle will commemorate Vrenios' life for the 20th anniversary of the plane crash.

For Jackson Droney, there is a lot more to Remembrance Week than simply recalling the lives lost on Pan Am Flight 103 - it's also about education. Droney, a senior policy studies and international relations major, remembers watching television one day after the Virginia Tech shootings.

Remembrance Scholar Claire Zillman said the far-off nature of terrorism numbed her to its realities. "It kind of makes us a little jaded," she said. The tragedy of Pan Am Flight 103 made it a little more real for her. "It's definitely eye-opening to have a victim of terrorism and see a picture of them," she said.

As soon as Curtis Eatman arrived at Syracuse University his freshman year, he wanted to be a leader on campus. He became a student representative in the Student Government Association and was president of the African American Male Congress by his sophomore year.

Timothy Cardwell was a junior when he died in the attack of Pan Am Flight 103. He was captain of his soccer team, a member of ROTC and active in wrestling, chorus and theater. For Remembrance Week, senior Thomas Wichman represents Cardwell, to remind students at Syracuse University of the talent and energy that was stolen from him 20 years ago.

Caryn Espy says being named a Remembrance Scholar is an honor when she looks at others who have also been acknowledged. "To be considered in a group as smart, talented and focused as these students is amazing," she said. Espy, a retail supply chain management major, chose to represent Theodora Cohen, a theater major.

The memory of Pan Am Flight 103 is still painful to Jason Tarr's family. Tarr's cousin, Lynne Carol Hartunian, was one of the 270 people who lost their lives over Lockerbie, Scotland. Hartunian was a student at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Anthony Fatta said he feels it's his job to tell students about the victims of Pan Am Flight 103. "(It is) the Remembrance Scholar's duty to educate the campus about the Pan Am tragedy," said Fatta, a senior religion and political science major. "It is a large part of the university story that the student body needs to know.

Jessica Suave never met Stephen Boland. The two have never taken the same class, lived in the same dorm, never even been in the same room at the same time. But Suave said she feels a connection to him that only a handful of other students on this campus know and understand, because she is the Remembrance Scholar honoring Boland, a victim of Pan Am Flight 103.

Over the last few months, Brian Spendley has made a new friend at Syracuse University. His name is Alexander Lowenstein and he shares many personal attributes with Spendley, including having lived in New Jersey. Unfortunately, Lowenstein was one of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and Spendley is a Remembrance Scholar commemorating him.

Tessa Franzese has been involved with special needs children her whole life. "I live 20 minutes away from a deaf community," she said. "My mom works with special needs children and I have been surrounded by the community my whole life." This is what brought on Franzese's choice to represent Anne Lindsey Otenasek, a junior at Western Maryland College, who was studying through Syracuse University's DIPA program when she was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 crash.

Amy Otuonye, a senior chemistry major, is representing Wendy Lincoln, a Pan Am Flight 103 victim, who specialized in communication design, graphic illustration and photography. Otuonye said she hopes that by representing Lincoln, she'll keep alive the Remembrance Scholar tradition and ensure Syracuse University's student body remembers the victims of Pan Am.

Brianna Larson, a senior acting and American history major, is representing Miriam Luby Wolfe, a musical theater major whose life was taken in the Pan Am Flight 103 attack. Wolfe, and four other drama students, died in the attack. This is what influenced Larson to become a Remembrance Scholar.

For Carissa Matthews, being a Remembrance Scholar means more than just a scholarship. "Once you're a Remembrance Scholar, you're charged with living out a victim's legacy," she said. The decision to embody that, Matthews said, didn't take long to determine.

When Francine Palmares was nominated to be a Remembrance Scholar by one of her professors, she knew she wanted to help spread the message of what happened to the Syracuse University students who died on Pam Am Flight 103. In researching what student she wanted to represent, Palmares found herself drawn to Nicole Boulanger because of her personality.

Gary Clark has vague memories of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy. "I remember leaving my grandmother's house after the news reported the bombing, and her trying to explain it to me," said Clark, a policy studies major. "She just said that sometimes, bad people do bad things to good people.

Jaclyn Pfaehler didn't pay attention to the story of Pan Am Flight 103 or the 35 Syracuse University students killed in the attack before coming to SU. Now, Pfaehler is a Remembrance Scholar, a living embodiment of one of the victims, Karen Lee Hunt. She is also the chairman of the rose-laying ceremony, a signature event during Remembrance Week.

Kaitlin Dengos read the poetry of Julianne Kelly in a journal Kelly's family published after her death. She found herself almost crying. She had played the same games at the bus stop as a child. In that moment, she said she realized the similarities between herself and Kelly.

Kimberly Harris represents Cynthia Smith, a fashion major and a victim of the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack. Harris decided to apply to be a Remembrance Scholar after reading about the tragedy. "Having the opportunity to represent somebody's life is a very high honor," the senior policy studies, political science and magazine journalism major said.

Kirsty Liddon, a freshman in The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, calls herself an athlete. A native of Yorkshire, England, Liddon is a member of the SU swim club and fencing team, and has been heavily involved in sports all her life.

Kyle Kwiatkowski said this week means more to him than reflecting and commemorating. Senior civil engineering major Kwiatkowski will stand on the Quad representing someone he's never met who was killed 20 years ago. He will dedicate his time and energy to Steven Berrell's memory.

When Pan Am Flight 103 crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, it claimed 270 lives, including 35 Syracuse University students. The town's residents were quick to help rescue workers in any way possible. With the world watching, the quiet, rural area sprung into action, forging a bond with the SU community that lives on today through the Syracuse-Lockerbie Scholarship program.

Christopher Jones celebrated each day as if it was his last. Marguerite Moore does the same. Although Jones, a Syracuse University student killed on Pan Am Flight 103, already experienced his last living day, Moore can still feel that connection. "Chris sort of spoke to me," said Moore, a television, radio and film and sociology major.

For Remembrance Week, Marlene Goldenberg said she hopes she can bring the passion that Alexia Tsairis, a victim of the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, brought to her day-to-day life. "(Her) whole effort to make the world a better place through political activism - that's what connected me to her," she said.

Though they never met, Matt Reilly knew Chancellor Melvin Eggers well. Eggers was Syracuse University's chancellor during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. Reilly wrote a lengthy profile last year on Eggers, in which he learned about the tragedy. "I learned about Pan Am 103 through writing the profile," Reilly said.

Melanie Mahanna, an inclusive elementary education and French major, said she wants to teach tolerance and peace through education. When she was a freshman, she was in the first group of students from Syracuse University to participate in a program for the Warren Fellowship for Future Educators.

Melissa Giroux said she admires Suzanna Miazga, who was a graduate student studying abroad in London when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed. "She knew what she wanted and she'd go for it," said Melissa Giroux, a senior magazine and policy studies major. Miazga had been working as a drug dependency counselor in London and pursuing a master's degree in social work.

Remembrance Scholar Tinuke Oyefule is representing Kesha Weedon, one of the 35 students lost in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Oyefule is a senior drama and theater studies major from Philadelphia. She has been music director and a member of Syracuse University's coed a cappella group, Groove Stand.

Nana Sang-Bender didn't get to choose which Pan Am Flight 103 victim to represent, but she found that she had things in common with him anyway. "I am on the track team, and he also did cross country," she said of Thomas Schultz, the student she is representing during Remembrance Week.

After 23 years of thriving in the magazine world, Jeanie Ralston has begun a second journey. Far from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan and Austin, Ralston's new life is in rural Texas. Once she made the drastic move, Ralston took over the lavender farm that her husband had established and developed it into a successful business.

Two cars collided head-on at approximately 9:45 p.m. Thursday at the entrance of South Campus. Two Syracuse University students were involved in the accident at the intersection of East Colvin Street and Slocum Road, said a Department of Public Safety officer at the scene.

James Conlon ended his lecture Thursday night with a few words of advice. "It only matters that the music gets played," he said. "You are going to make a difference, so go out and play." Conlon, an American musician, composer and conductor whose work focuses on the Holocaust, spoke to Syracuse University students, faculty and staff in Setnor Auditorium Thursday night.