DEKALB, Ill. – Students, faculty, and community members gathered Friday night to pay their respects to the students lost in Thursday’s shootings at Northern Illinois University.

Inside a crowded banquet hall in the Holmes Hall Student Center, attendees listened to students and public figures speak about the legacies of the victims and the importance of pulling together to move forward as one.

“The one thing that is strikingly apparent to me is the strength of the Husky spirit,” said Jarvis Purnell, president of the NIU Student Association. “I am confident we will overcome this as an NIU family.”

Following the memorial, attendees ventured into the cold night to light candles and sign a memorial wall on the university’s Martin Luther King Junior Commons.

“No matter what, we have to overcome this,” said sophomore Nate Gilbert. “This is still Northern. It’s still home.”

Check Monday’s edition of the Daily Illini for the complete story.