When Taylor Pinion, freshman in LAS, reflects on Sept. 11, 2001, she remembers being confused.

“I was in my science class, and my counselor announced that anyone who had relatives living in or traveling to or visiting New York should come with him down to the guidance office,” she said, referring to the public school in Naperville, Ill. she attended at the time. “We were all really confused.”

With more than 90 percent of students at the University from Illinois, some students found themselves in the same situation as Pinion. However, there were others who had a more personal connection.

Spencer Turkin, freshman in Media, lived in North Woodmere, N.Y., a suburb of New York City. He said he remembers a more overwhelming emotion: fear. He said he recalls wondering if the parents of other kids he knew were safe.

“It became more of a scary day, in that sense, knowing that it was a more personal connection,” Turkin said.

Eventually, Turkin’s fears were realized. Lt. Vincent Giammona, a New York City firefighter who Turkin knew through a hockey league, was missing.

“Everybody was holding out hope,” Turkin said. “After about a week, it just became a reality that he wasn’t coming back. They found his helmet, and that was sort of closure, unfortunately. That gave his family some peace of mind…they know where he is.”

Every year, Turkin and his family take time to remember Giammona.

“He was a wonderful guy, really, one of the most outgoing people you’ll ever meet,” he said. “Every year, HBO runs their documentary… you see Vinny walking up the stairs. His truck was one of the first ones down there… he would be one of those people to run up there for anybody else. He was that guy.”

Shortly afterwards, Turkin’s hockey league held a memorial tournament to honor Giammona’s memory and raise money for his children’s college tuition.

Pinion said she has largely moved on from the attacks, but feels some lingering concern.

“Any time I have to travel or any time there’s some sort of threat… I think about it then,” she said.

For Turkin, the anniversary of the attacks is a sad time, which his family devotes to reflection.

“Every year is a little different, but yet, more of the same,” he said.

Memorial services are still held every year at Ground Zero.

“Every year, less and less people show up,” Turkin said. “But a lot of them have decided that when they go down there, it’s too much. They just can’t do it any more.”

At the University, several memorial events are planned, including one at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.

The memorial will go from 7:46 a.m. to 8:04 a.m., the times when the first and second towers were hit.

The performance, which will feature several faculty members from the School of Music, has been held annually since Karl Kramer, the director of the School of Music, began holding the ceremony in 2002.

“I thought that it was something special and a place to be silent and to be able to think at that time, for those few minutes when everybody’s life changed,” Kramer said.

Turkin, however, plans to reflect on his own.

“When HBO puts on that documentary, I’ll be sitting there, watching for Vinny, and letting him know that we’re all still down here and doing all right,” he said.