DeKALB — Holmes Student Center opens tribute exhibit

The Holmes Student Center opened their ‘Forward, Together: Remembering’ exhibit in the Gallery Lounge Monday.

The exhibit includes items sent and donated to NIU after the Feb. 14, 2008, Cole Hall shooting where a gunman killed five students and then himself.

On a long wall inside the exhibit, there are tribute panels to the five students who lost their lives as a result of the shooting. Flowers and paper origami cranes have been placed alongside the panels of Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace and Daniel Parmenter.

There are various pieces of art at the exhibit, including a mosaic designed by alumnus Seth Endres, a fraternity brother to Parmenter. A 47-foot-long memorial mural, made by art students Feb. 26, 2008, their first day of class after the shooting, is displayed.

The military jacket of Gehant is on display at the exhibit, as Gehant had served 12 years in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves before going to NIU.

There are various items on display that were donated to the university from Virginia Tech University, the Lutheran Campus Center from University of Wisconsin, Dominican University, various community members and religious groups from around the country.

The exhibit is free and open to the public through Feb. 14.