West Virginia University will mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with a commemorative ceremony, original music composition, 24-hour vigil and other campus events. The public is invited to participate in all activities.

On Saturday,The Pride of West VirginiaMountaineer Marching Band will salute the heroes of 9/11 by performing an up-tempo medley of patriotic music during halftime of the 1 p.m. WVU -Eastern Washington football game at Milan Puskar Stadium.

At 12:01 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11, members of the Student Government Association and other campus groups will begin a 24-hour vigil outside the Downtown Library Complex. A memorial banner with the names of 9/11 victims will hang from the brick wall in front of the library. Visitors may write their memories on cards and leave themalong with ribbons, flowers, flags, poems and other appropriate itemsat the site.

WVU will again hang lights on the West Virginia evergreen planted near the

library to symbolize the enduring spirit of those lost that day. WVU student leaders presented the tree and a bronze plaque that reads:We rememberThe spirit of those lost on Sept. 11, 2001, lives in each of uson behalf of the student body to WVU and City officials on the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11. The plaque will also be illuminated Monday.

Beginning at 9 a.m.shortly after the first hijacked plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center five years agofaculty members and graduate students in the College of Creative Arts will stage a musical tribute in the Mountainlair commons. The performance will featureSeptember Morning: Elegy for 2001,a piece composed by WVU Professor of Music John Beall.

From 9 a.m.-around noon, residential interior design students in the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences will constructShelters for Daydreaminga project built entirely out of found materialsin front of the Agricultural Sciences Annex to raise awareness of homelessness in Morgantown as well as commemorate the anniversary.

On a day when many people remember the vulnerable feelings we all had in the wake of the attacks, it seemed particularly appropriate to build a place for retreat and protection in which one could be alone with ones thoughts,said Hannah Rose Mendoza, assistant professor of interior design.

At 5 p.m., University and Morgantown officials will join WVU student leaders in front of the Downtown Library Complex for a memorial ceremony. There will be brief remarks by WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr., Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice, SGA President Jason Gross and SGA Vice President Beth Belch.

The service will include the WVU ROTC color guard; Carlton Smith, 2005 WVU Mountaineer Idol, singingAmerica the Beautiful;Julie Cerrone, 2005 Mountaineer Idol runner-up, performing the national anthem; and a chronological narrative of events on Sept. 11, 2001.

Belch, who is helping to coordinate WVU s 9/11 memorial events, said the day-long remembrance is intended to be a simple, but powerful reminder.

I was in my 11th grade English class at Laurel Highlands High School (Uniontown, Pa.) when it happened,she recalled.Our teacher stopped class and turned on the TV. I had a cross-country meet later that day, and it got canceled. Parents were calling the school.

I think the WVU commemorative events are a respectful reminder of all who died,she added.Its important not to forget what happened that day.

WVU lost two alumni in the terror attacksChris Gray, a 1992 and 1994 graduate who was working as a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald, and Jim Samuel Jr., a 1993 graduate who was working as a commodities broker for Carr Futures. Both worked at the World Trade Center Towers. Scholarship funds were set up in their memory through the WVU Foundation.