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For three Remembrance Scholars, looking back and acting forward plays a special role in their lives as they connect ROTC to Pan Am Flight 103. 

Syracuse University’s 32nd Remembrance Week started on Sunday, Oct. 17 and will last until Saturday, Oct, 23. SU chooses 35 seniors each year as Remembrance Scholars to represent the 35 students killed by the attack, an act of terrorism that led to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland.

Three of these scholars are female ROTC cadets at SU. This is the first time in the scholarship’s history that three ROTC cadets have been selected as Remembrance Scholars, and the first time that three female ROTC cadets have been selected for the scholarship program. 

“It’s amazing that we’re all going to be female soldiers in the military,” said Madeline Messare, who represents Richard “Rick” Paul Monetti as a Remembrance Scholar. “We’re all trying to give back to the community and make a positive change. The selfless service that’s supposed to encompass being in the military for us doesn’t just start when we commission as officers, it starts now.” 

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

Messare said that representing Monetti has heightened her sense of purpose, pushing her to advocate for mental health in the military and start a petition for SU to grant scholarships to refugees from Afghanistan.

“(I learned) from a young age that what you don’t hand back, you pass on, and grieving trauma is not passive but active and necessary for all healing,” Messare said. “(With) ROTC, especially, there’s a lot of trauma and horrific events that you observe within the military that you are forced to recover from.” 

Messare said she believes mental health is highly stigmatized in the military and in law enforcement. She uses the motto for Remembrance Scholars — “Look Back, Act Forward” — as motivation to bring awareness to the topic. 

“Looking back on trauma and acting forward by educating and supporting others, coping with their past experiences and helping them refocus their energy towards a promising future, which is what I think this scholarship is all about,” she said.

Messare said she also uses the Remembrance Scholarship and ROTC as motivation for her activism.

“My social psychology professor once said, ‘People are capable of behavior that’s shockingly brutal, they are also capable of behavior that is shockingly selfless and altruistic.’ I think this scholarship represents that,” Messare said. “Hatred is often a by-product of trauma, and we need to reshape that narrative. And that’s what I am trying to do in the military, and that’s what I try to do every day just in my life.” 

Madeleine Gordon, a Remembrance Scholar representing Sarah S.B. Philipps, shared a similar motive, saying that the motto of “Look Back, Act Forward” has led her to have a new perspective on grieving terrorist attacks and events. Gordon said that terrorism divides communities and people, but grieving and educating one another can unite people. 

“Our military has been defined for the past few decades by the global war on terror. Unfortunately, we can expect that type of violence to continue to occur in our world,” Gordon said. “Acts of terrorism are important to be educated on. It’s important to understand the impact that they have.”

“That’s what’s really special about the Remembrance Scholarship. Here we are, decades later, and we’re still honoring the fallen. We are still actively remembering, educating and moving forward.” 

Gordon said that remembrance and grief have long impacted her life, as an ROTC cadet and as a Jewish woman. She said she sees the Remembrance Scholars and ROTC as the two biggest service communities on campus.

Gordon said that she has been able to connect her experiences with the Remembrance Scholarship program. 

“You live to honor those that you’ve lost. I’ve had people in my family — I’ve had people in my religious community — who have been incredibly affected by incredibly tragic events, like the Holocaust,” she said. “I have seen how it has brought us closer … You can draw connections to the strength community, and you can make something beautiful from even the darkest moments in life.” 

Elizabeth Billman, who represents ROTC cadet Timothy M. Cardwell, said that being a woman in ROTC has had a profound effect on her life and her experience as a Remembrance Scholar. 

Billman said she wants to make sure that the ROTC community on campus knows and remembers Cardwell and his legacy in the ROTC program at SU. She also said that being a Remembrance Scholar is all about honoring the people killed in the attack. 

“We recognize the amazing things that all of these young people … did in their short time,” she said. “We could have been those people. (We need to continue) looking back at all their accomplishments and making sure that their names are not forgotten.” 

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

For Gordon, being a Remembrance Scholar is the biggest honor she could have received. Gordon said that each Remembrance Scholar has its own lifestyle that celebrates each of the 35 students. 

“Such a big part of what we do as Remembrance Scholars is just keeping, retaining those memories and using them to propel yourself forward and propel the community forward,” she said. “So many of the scholars are just described as these incredibly vibrant, creative, loving, caring people. And I think that’s what really brings (the victims) to life.” 

Gordon said that Philipps was a passionate student with an enthusiastic personality and that everybody described her as “radiating beauty inside and out.” She said that reading about Philipps keeps her memory alive and has allowed her to honor her even more. 

Gordon said the Remembrance Scholarship has motivated her to pursue a career in the military and hopes to carry Philipps’ enthusiasm into the rest of her life. 

“The biggest thing that I can promote as a leader is empathy. … That’s something I will carry with me, and of course, that general enthusiasm for life,” she said. “I want to bring as much good into the world as I can.” 

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

Billman, Gordon and Messare each represent three victims who died in the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack, but they also demonstrate the strength of the women in ROTC and the military. They each said that it is no coincidence that three female cadets were chosen to represent three victims of the terrorist attack. 

“It’s like the message of resilience and trying to push through being female too and trying to make a difference within the community,” Messare said. “It’s hard being in a male-dominated field. But I think all of us are really strong women that have really pushed to be able to make positive change in our surrounding communities.” 

DISCLAIMER: Elizabeth Billman is a senior staff photographer for The Daily Orange. She does not influence the editorial content of the News section in her capacity as a senior staff photographer.

Published on October 18, 2021 at 12:20 am

Contact Karoline: kaleonar@syr.edu