Students plant trees in memory
of WTC victims

Students in Professor Ben Schaffer's recreation facilities and recreation leadership classes, and members of the Recreation Club recently planted more than 40 white pine seedlings in front of Bohn Hall in memory of those lost in the Sept. 11 attack on the Twin Towers.

The students also installed a five-foot pole with the message, "May Peace Prevail on Earth" written in English, Japanese, French and German.

Schaffer said the activity gave students the opportunity to express their support for the victims of the terrorist attacks. "After the Sept. 11 incident we talked about what we can do as a class to help," said Schaffer, adding that community involvement is a regular part of his classes. The professor personally bought the three-year-old trees from the New Jersey State Forestry

Department. The white pines can grow up to 50 feet. Before planting the seedlings, the 25 students visited Liberty State Park where Josh Osowski '00, assistant superintendent of the park, led a tour. The students saw the New Jersey Trauma Center in action and viewed the memorial walls bearing messages to lost loved ones. The students chose names from the wall for whom to plant the trees.

"It was an experience seeing all the time and effort people had taken to post names and pictures on behalf of all the people missing," said senior Thomas Turner. Classmate Kristen Tobin, president of the Recreation Club, agreed. "These activities have made each of us feel that we can and should do something to help."

Turner said he and his classmates go to Bohn regularly to water the trees and check on their progress.

The students, however, did not stop with the tree plantings. In October they participated in a benefit march that raised $560 for the American Red Cross and St. Barnabas Burn Center, and they are now constructing a Pride in America Quilt. Each of the 36 nine-by-nine-inch squares will be created by a Montclair State student.

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