The UCF community will gather Monday, Sept. 12, to remember those whose lives were taken at the Pulse nightclub and to share stories of healing.
The campus community and public are invited to the 1:45 p.m. event at the Morgridge International Reading Center on UCF’s main campus.
In addition, UCF is asking students, faculty and staff to observe 49 seconds of silence – wherever they are — at 2 p.m. Monday in honor of the 49 lives that were taken.
Monday’s event will be on the three-month anniversary of the shootings. In the days following the tragedy, the UCF community responded by turning out in large numbers at campus blood drives and at a vigil at the Student Union.
The victims of the Pulse shootings included UCF student and pre-finance major Juan Ramon Guerrero and alumnus Christopher Andrew Leinonen, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Psychology.
UCF panelists for Monday’s event include Social Work instructor Mary Mann; student Julia Lozada; Stephanie Preston of Counseling and Psychological Services; Maha Qureshi, president of the Muslim Student Association; and librarian Carrie Moran, president of the UCF Pride Faculty and Staff Association.
The keynote speaker will be Carlos Guillermo Smith from Equality Florida. Justin Andrade from UCF’s LGBTQ+ Services office will be the moderator.
Among the topics panelists will discuss will be the impact of the shooting on Orlando as well as on the LGBTQ, Latino and Muslim communities.
Monday’s event is being organized by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion with support from the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services, UCF Cares, the UCF Pride Faculty and Staff Association, the UCF Latino Faculty and Staff Association, Social Justice and Advocacy, and UCF LGBTQ+ Services.