Here’s how UNC Charlotte will remember campus shooting on third anniversary
Charlotte Strong.
The words anchor many of the messages of reflection on the Niner Nation Remembers page of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte website.
UNC Charlotte will commemorate the three-year anniversary of the campus shooting that took the lives of two students and injured four classmates beginning Friday. This year’s Day of Remembrance includes several virtual and in-person activities.
Reed Parlier, 19, of Midland and Riley Howell, 21, of Waynesville were killed in the shooting April 30, 2019. Four other students were injured: Emily Houpt of Charlotte; Rami Alramadhan of Saudia Arabia; Sean DeHart of Apex; and Drew Pescaro of Apex.
The schedule of events
▪ 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Friday: The Employee Assistance Program will host four one-hour sessions to facilitate discussions and offer support to faculty and staff. The sessions will be in person in Cone University Center, room 112. The sessions include discussions on coping with the pandemic, rapid life changes and chronic stress of extraordinary life events and resiliency. Registration is required.
▪ 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday: Tables and boards will be set up outside Kennedy Building with cards and pens to write personalized message. Notes will be collected by University Archives and added to the April 30 collection. People can also share message online for the Niner Nation Remembers website at ninernationremembers.charlotte.edu.
▪ 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday: Walk, run or jog 4.9 miles and then post on social media.
▪ 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday: Following April 30, 2019, the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens invite students, faculty, staff and visitors to record their thoughts and feelings by writing or drawing on small rocks, creating an ephemeral art installation, the college says. The stones became the inspiration for a permanent, monumental sculpture by faculty and students of the Department of Art & Art History.
▪ 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday: The Niner Community Art Mural event will be outside of the university’s recreation center. Pending weather conditions, the rain location will be the Union Rotunda.
▪ 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Friday: Virtual sessions of guided meditation and restorative yoga to assist the body in releasing stress and tension are available.
▪ 5:40 p.m. Friday: A wreath laying will take place out of the Kennedy Building. The shooting happened around 5:40 p.m. on April 30, 2019.
▪ 5:40 p.m. Saturday: The wreaths will be removed from outside and moved inside the Kennedy Building.
▪ The April 30 Memorial digital exhibit is online and includes photographs, videos, letters, oral histories and other remembrances, according to the university. The items featured will highlight the ways UNC Charlotte, the surrounding community and nation grieved together following the tragedy. “They showcase the resilience of our campus community and the ways in which we will always remember those who were lost and forever changed that day,” states the Niner Nation Remembers page.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
