09/06/11 jb

HAYS, Kan. -- For the 10th anniversary of Sept.11, Fort Hays State University's Tigers in Service will host "Struggle to Strength," an overnight campus camp-out and community event beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, in the FHSU Quad.

Visitors are welcome bring picnic dinners. The ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. with speeches and recognition of first-responders in Hays. A candlelight vigil will feature a walk around campus.

Tigers in Service will have stations around the Quad for students to visit after the vigil. Stations will include one that asks "Where were you?" on Sept. 11, 2001, and one where visitors can record a "thank you'" to all the first-responders here in Hays. Students are encouraged stay and camp out for the night with friends.

"Tigers in Service is doing this because this is the first time that anyone has ever camped out in the Quad, and it is a different way to remember and honor all the things that people have done for our country," said Emily Brettmann, Castle Rock, Colo., sophomore and student coordinator for Tigers in Service.

"Sept.11th shouldn't just be about crying and sadness. We want to have a good time while realizing that even though our country has gone through so much, we have overcome so much more," she said.