Bonfire Remembrance Ceremony to mark 16th anniversary of Stack Collapse

Connor Smith

November 16, 2015

Photo by Photo by: Alexis Will

The Collapse sometimes seems like distant history, until reaching the Center Pole. When I wander to the center of the ring, I am always brought back to the time of the Bonfire Collapse. It happened right there. The circle we stand in isn’t just a designated location for a memorial; we stand right where the Stack fell only 16 years ago. We stand where we lost 12 members of our family, and right where we have taken the time to come together, year after year, and honor them.

— Josiah Bezet, Muster Committee Chair

The 2015 Bonfire Remembrance Ceremony will be held Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 2:42 a.m. at the campus Bonfire Memorial to honor the 12 students who died in the 1999 Bonfire Stack Collapse. The ceremony will begin at the exact time the collapse occurred 16 years ago.

The ceremony will involve singing of The Spirit of Aggieland and poetry readings. A Roll Call for the Absent with the names of the 12 students who died will be read, along with the lighting of candles. The ceremony will conclude by singing the hymn ‘Amazing Grace.’

Parking in lots 47, 50, and 51 will be free all night and into the morning for the ceremony.

Cody Buczyna, a management senior and Bonfire remembrance and service committee chair on traditions council, said while there are planned events, students are welcome to come and go as they feel fit.

“The ceremony will officially start at 2:42am, obviously people are allowed to get there as they please before hand,” Buczyna said. “Then there is no real end time, once the yell leaders dismiss the ceremony many people leave, but others stay and pay their respects a little bit more.”

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