A memorial service to remember and honor the lives of 18 Ohio State students who died this academic year was held Monday night in the Great Hall Meeting Room of the Ohio Union.

Family, friends and classmates of the fallen Buckeyes were in attendance to pay their respects and share thoughts and prayers within the OSU community.

Austin Schafer, a pastoral associate at St. Thomas More Newman Center, welcomed everyone in attendance.

“We are gathered here to celebrate the lives and to honor the memories of our Ohio State students who have died this academic year,” Schafer said.

“This is certainly an occasion for sorrow, but may it also be an occasion for thanksgiving because we are thankful for the gift of light and we are thankful that these most-cherished students, our fellow Buckeyes, lived among us.”

Schafer shared a prayer before introducing University President Michael Drake, who spoke about the importance of community in times of sorrow.

We are a tight-knit community here at our university. It’s sad for us to come together, but it gives us some strength to come together to remember those Buckeyes that began with us who won’t be completing the journey with us,” Drake said.

Drake said this is a chance to honor loved ones’ memories, and to reflect on their impact on everyone’s lives and the community of which they were a part.

“They were woven into the fabric, as I said, of our university and our community. They were leaders, they were researchers, they were students, they were motivators. Each of them had tremendous potential,” Drake said.

The 18 names of the students who passed away were read aloud, and then followed by an instrumental version of “Carmen Ohio” performed by the Tugaoen family.

The ceremony ended with Schafer inviting everyone in attendance to light a candle in honor of the students who had passed away this year.

The families in attendance were offered a small rosemary plant, as a symbol of remembrance from the university.

“Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye,” Schafer said.

The names of the students remembered at the ceremony are:

Jazlyn Barnes
Daniel Bay
James Bull
Antonio Crutchfield
Victoria Dunn
Zachary Farmer
Eyatta Fischer
Steven Graham
David Hilton
Katherine Johanni
Chelsea Kelly
Brian Myers
Jee Hoon Park
Sara Pike
Kevin Schranz
Thomas “Greg” Shupe
Austin Singletary
Dellen Subianto