Every year, Southeast’s Military and Veteran Services holds a flag ceremony outside Academic Hall in honor of those who lost their lives Sept. 11, 2001.

This year’s event began wednesday with a moment of silence followed by the national anthem played by the marching band, after which four Air Force ROTC cadets lowered the flag, while a single trumpet played Taps.

As more students born after 2001 reach college, Amanda Woods said the ceremony only becomes more important with each passing year. Woods is an outreach coordinator and official in the Office of Military and Veteran Services at Southeast.

“It’s important to remember all the lives lost and how the country came together after those terrorist attacks,” Woods said. “People from every background, every social-economic level, they stood united and really came together as Americans. [They came together] as a country to support one another, and I think not only commemorating those who have fallen but remembering that unity the country had at that point is extremely important.”

On the lawn of Academic Hall flew 2,977 flags, placed in the ground to honor the lives that were lost during the attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

The four cadets who lowered the flag are part of the Air Force ROTC program through Southeast. Show-me GOLD students also participated in the event.

The American flag flew at half-staff until sunset in observance of Patriot Day.