EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso Community College’s (EPCC) Office of Intramural Sports hosted a 9/11 EPCC Freedom Walk on Friday, Sept. 11 at the Valle Verde campus.
2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in 2001, and Patriot Day occurs on Sept. 11 of each year in memory of the victims killed in those attacks.
Walkers make their way around the Valle Verde campus during a Sept 11 rememberance event Friday.
EPCC’s Veterans Resource Center (VRC) combined efforts with Intramural Sports for the Freedom Walk around the Valle Verde campus to give students, staff , faculty and the community the opportunity to remember those lost on that day.
“We, at the college, want to take time and pause and remember that fateful day 25 years ago,” VRC Director Carl Dwyer, a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Army. “Many students and staff weren’t born when the event happened, so they didn’t experience it like many others, so we’re not only remembering, but we’re teaching and educating and sharing our history so that everyone knows the significance and importance of Patriot Day to our country.”
The event included the presentation of colors and the national anthem, and presentation of the Red, White and Blue Armed Forces Service Cord to Anthony Jones, a 10-year veteran of the United States Air Force and EPCC athletic assistant.
“Even to this day, I have a hard time putting into words,” said Jones, an EPCC athletic assistant and Freedom Walk organizer. “It hurt me to my core. And afterwards, the way people came together, willing to help each other, we came together in the aftermath as one nation.”
Over a hundred students, staff, faculty and community members, many veterans of the armed forces, attended the event and enjoyed refreshments afterward, along with conversations and a deep understanding of what happened 25 years ago.
“I’m here to remember, and it means a lot to be here. It’s something that happened and I just wanted to be here in this moment to honor them,” Nahum Mena, a kinesiology major, said.
For more information on the EPCC Veterans Resource Center, click here.
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