Kissimmee, FL – To honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Valencia College’s Osceola Campus will hold a county-wide memorial service on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.
Valencia is once again staging a dramatic display of 2,977 flags on the Kissimmee campus lawn – one flag erected for each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that tragic day.
This is the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks and the fourth year that the Kissimmee campus has staged the field of flags display, which features U.S. and international flags, representing the nationalities of the 9/11 victims.
Click here to see drone video footage of the flags.
Valencia College will also unveil a piece of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center given to the college by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority program has provided artifacts to 1,500 entities nationwide, in all 50 states and several countries. Across the country, bits of beams that once held up the towers stand outside of fire departments, inside municipal buildings and libraries, in town squares and museums. After the Sept. 12 ceremony, Valencia will display the artifact in the library on the Osceola Campus.
In addition to honoring the victims of 9/11, the Osceola Campus flag display will also serve as the backdrop for Osceola’s county-wide memorial service, which will include participants from the Osceola County’s Sheriff’s Office, Osceola County Emergency Services, Kissimmee police and fire departments, and St. Cloud police and fire departments. Lee Massie, managing director of Valencia’s Criminal Justice Institute, and former chief of the Kissimmee police department, will be the keynote speaker.
The ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12 in the Building 4 courtyard at the Osceola Campus. Please note that this is an outdoor event. Seating is limited and will be reserved for those who have served in public safety and those with disabilities.
Valencia’s Osceola Campus is located at 1800 Denn John Lane in Kissimmee.
The flags are scheduled to be on display from Sept. 8-15.
To install the flags, Valencia and the Rotary Club of Lake Nona have assembled a community-wide team of volunteers. Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 8, volunteers – including Rotarians, cadets of the Civil Air Patrol, Boy Scouts, and Valencia volunteers – will install the 2,977 flagpoles on the campus grounds.
The Rotary continues to raise money toward a scholarship with the Valencia Foundation to help pay for continuing education for men and women who are currently police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. All money from the Valencia College Family Run/Walk for Heroes, to be held on Sept. 9, will benefit students studying to become first responders. For information or to register online, go to https://runsignup.com/valenciacollege5K-kissimmee
WHAT: Osceola County 9/11 Memorial Event
WHEN: 6 p.m., Sept. 12
WHERE: Valencia College’s Osceola Campus, 1800 Denn John Lane, Kissimmee
For more information on the event, please call 407-582-4975.