Kyle Kwiatkowski said this week means more to him than reflecting and commemorating.

Senior civil engineering major Kwiatkowski will stand on the Quad representing someone he’s never met who was killed 20 years ago. He will dedicate his time and energy to Steven Berrell’s memory.

‘I wrote my application essay about him,’ Kwiatkowski said. ‘The assignment was to research a victim…and compare them to our own lives. I found a connection with Steven.’

Kwiatkowski and Berrell both played in their high school bands. They both minored in business.

‘I think it’s tough because I was only a born a year before the attack happened,’ he said. ‘There’s no way for me to understand a tragedy like this or to ever really know who Steven really was.’

But Kwiatkowski became invested in Berrell through studying his life, his interests and his hobbies. For this week, Kwiatkowski said, he will let himself be consumed with the life he has been chosen to represent.

‘It’s one of those times when you feel a connection,’ he said. ‘Somehow it stops you and makes it a little deeper.’

Published on October 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm