Last spring break, the choir toured New York City. While there they visited the six-acre memorial officially named “Reflecting Absence.”  The memorial features cascading waterfalls and illuminated pools at the locations of the two felled towers. The edges of the waterfalls are inscribed with the names of the thousands of people who died during the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Junior Will Boren visited the memorial on the choir trip.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Boren said. “When I walked in, a wave of awe swept over me. It was almost surreal and the whole place had a moving feel to it.”

Head choir director Brandon Farren said until he visited the site in 2002, he was unable to realize how massive the destruction was.

“I saw ground zero a year after the attacks,” Farren said. “Now seeing the devastation removed and a dedication put in place, it is a reflection of the strengths of God’s grace and strength He has put in our hearts.”

Farren said nothing can break our spirits.

“Evil and evil acts cannot last,” Farren said. “We replaced it with beauty and peace.”