Melanie Hicken has been working at The Daily Orange since the second week of her freshman year.

In the past few months, Hicken has gotten to know Amy Shapiro well. But because of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, Hicken and Shapiro will never meet. Hicken, the Remembrance Scholar who represents Shapiro, said there is a deep connection between them.

‘We got to request who we would be representing, and I felt a kindred spirit with Amy because she is described as being very creative and outgoing,’ said Hicken, a senior newspaper journalism, history and political science major.

Shapiro was a photographer for The DO. A senior photojournalism major from Stamford, Conn., Shapiro was studying abroad in London before the Pan Am crash. Hicken said she spent last semester studying in London, which made her connection with Shapiro stronger.

‘The students who were lost were really amazing people,’ she said.

Though Hicken is involved with a number of organizations and projects at SU, she highlighted her work at The DO.

Hicken added that living in the Sept.11 generation, she feels desensitized to terrorism. But in 1988, terrorism was not something people talked about.

‘I was only two years old during the bombing and it’s very important that SU keeps this tradition going,’ she said.

Published on October 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm