Going to a big university is one thing; it provides you with a sense of community and family. You have pride when your football team wins the rivalry game, or even that championship game. You love telling others about the school you attend and why they should come to it as well. You wear your school colors any chance you get, and even more so when you’re in enemy territory. But what happens when something tragic happens to the place you now call “home?" Do you lose a sense of pride? Is that community gone? The answer should always be “no.” Now I could sit here and list all the reasons why that answer is no, but for many who have experienced a traumatic event at the place they now call home, those reasons vary. This is because each event is different, each university is different, and every student who is affected reacts differently. But what is most important is that we continue to honor and remember those who have passed.

Take Virigina Tech, for example. They experienced a significant mass shooting that rocked the entire campus as well as the surrounding area. No one wants to send their child to get an education only to live in fear that something horrible might happen to that child. What people should understand is that no matter what, students will protect one another. Why? Because as soon as you set foot on that campus, you become surrounded by a loving community and a loving family.

Another instance would be Oklahoma State University (OSU). Little ol’ Stillwater is known for being home to America’s Brightest Orange and the city where students and families come together to chill. However, in recent years, OSU and Stillwater have come to be known for several traumatic events involving students, coaches, and surrounding Stillwater citizens. Remember the 10, Remember the 4 and the 2015 Homecoming: each of these events is significant for its own reasons, but each one has only strengthened the community of OSU, Stillwater and the nation.

January 27, 2001, OSU lost 10 great men in a tragic plane crash in Colorado. The orange nation was rocked, but every year since 2006 people have come together to honor those 10 men and to remember their legacies. The Remember the 10 Run honors those men and their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Without the togetherness brought by Hargis and Sutton, the OSU community would still be in shock, but we have banded together to remember the lives of those 10 men, not their deaths.

Remembering the 4 marks another hallmark in OSU history as another 4 were tragically lost in a plane crash, in particular the women’s basketball head coach and assistant coach. However, each year on the day of the accident, OSU takes a moment to pray in silence and remember those four people who lost their lives in hopes of finding new women to carry on the OSU legacy. Just because we have the Remember the 10 and the Remember the 4 does not mean that becoming an OSU Cowboy is full of heartache and sadness. In fact, becoming an OSU Cowboy is all about family, community, pride, and unity. All of which can be further seen in the case of OSU’s 2015 Homecoming.

It was a fateful day, and as a witness, I have never been more proud to be part of OSU and Stillwater. My friends and family comforted me while I comforted those around me as we all dealt with the shock and horror of those lives taken on such a happy occasion. Homecoming is about tradition and being together to cheer the Cowboys into victory, but that fateful day became something about just being together and holding onto friends and family. OSU rallied together; Stillwater rallied together; the entire Big 12 nation came together in support of their sister school; Oklahoma came together, and the nation came together. Thus, as we dealt with the trauma of that awful car wreck and the lives lost, we all learned that a traumatic event will instill much more into the heart and souls of those involved and those comforting.

Because without the Cowboy family, all these tragic events would be just that: tragic. But now, they are so much more than that. They are all about coming together and remembering; remembering those who have passed doing what they love for the community they cherish. Thus, it is important that we honor them every chance we get. So when you think about your university, think about all the pride you have for your school and remember that no matter what, that pride and community will never leave.

It will always be important to honor and remember those who have passed. But as an OSU student, myself, I must say that every chance I get to honor any of those who have passed from my school, I will. They never expected to pass away, thus why should honoring them ever change? We honor those to remember their legacies. OSU was built on tradition, and tradition never dies.

Never forget to honor and remember. No matter what university you attend, or where you come from, don’t let that pride and community disappear.