Become a Remembrance Scholar

The Remembrance Scholarship is one of the highest honors a Syracuse University student can receive. Those selected are chosen on the basis of community impact, leadership, creativity, and thoughtful academic inquiry. Community impact may include service to the military, ROTC, first responder, student government, campus clubs or other community organizations beyond campus. The 35 rising seniors selected annually are each awarded a $5,000 Remembrance Scholarship and are charged with helping to educate the SU campus community about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Scholars are expected to undertake meaningful service and to promote initiatives to combat hatred and extremism. Through education, all 270 lost in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 are remembered and honored.

Remembrance Scholarship Selection Criteria

Community impact:

• Record of sustained engagement or service, and commitment to improving the lives of others, on campus or in broader communities
• Understanding of how community work impacts others

Leadership:

• Record of personal integrity
• Demonstrated ability to “act forward” by effecting meaningful change or improvement within the campus or broader communities, whether by organizing, mobilizing, or inspiring others.

Creativity:

• Demonstrated ability to draw connections, synthesize ideas, and/or solve problems in original ways
• Creative approach to the Remembrance Program’s mission

Thoughtful academic inquiry:

• Record of thoughtfully chosen coursework, independent research or creative inquiry, and/or contributions to the academic environment of school, college or university
• Ability to draw connections between academic training and plans to create positive change by “acting forward”

Duties of the Remembrance Scholars

If selected as one of the 35 Remembrance Scholars, you will be required to do the following: 

• Represent the Syracuse University students lost on Pan Am 103 as well as all 270 victims
• Meet once per week (Friday afternoons, after 3pm) from August through November to plan Remembrance Week (held in late October); serve on at least one subcommittee in addition to this weekly meeting
• Plan, organize, publicize, and participate in a calendar of events during Remembrance Week (typically including a candlelight vigil, "Act Forward" symposium, and the rose-laying and convocation ceremonies). Remembrance Scholars who are abroad during the fall semester may participate in such plans and activities at the SU Abroad Center in the country in which they are studying
• Work with your Remembrance Scholars cohort throughout the academic year to contribute to an "Act Forward Project" 
• Serve/act as ambassadors to the Remembrance Scholarship Program by educating the campus community about the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack
• Engage with the Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives

If you would like to learn more about the duties of a Remembrance Scholar from a current Scholar, email remember@syr.edu.