Members of the New Mexico State University community gathered to remember the students, employees, and alumni who passed away during the 2023-2024 school year in the Aggie Remembrance Day ceremony on May 1. Organizers originally planned for the event to take place at the NMSU Spiritual Center, but they moved it to the East Ballroom in Corbett Center Student Union.
NMSU Dean of Students Ann Goodman opened the ceremony with an invitation for guests to enjoy the scenery of campus and a reminder that they were not alone in their loss.
“We hope that you find being on campus to be as beautiful and as peaceful as we close that our academic school year,” Goodman said. “To our honored family and friends know that you do not experience this loss alone. We join tonight as an Aggie family to share our love for you and those we’ve lost.”
After an invocation, posting of the colors, and a performance of the national anthem, Valerie Gomez read “What it Means to be an Aggie,” a poem that was also read at last year’s ceremony. Ariya Nilkaew read a poem titled “My Dear Aggie.”
“If you were not excellent to the world, then you were excellent to us / If you were not beautiful to the world then let us tell you how lovely the day was when you first walked through Miller gates,” Nilkaew read.
ASNMSU President Ala Alhalholy spoke about the impact lost students made on the NMSU community. She reminded guests to celebrate the influence their loved ones had on their lives.
“Each of the individuals we honor today brought something unique and valuable to our community,” Alhalholy said. “They enriched our lives with their laughter, their kindness, their passion, and their dedication. Whether they were friends, classmates, mentors or loved ones, their presence left a mark on our lives that lives on an NMSU community as a whole.”
“As we gather to honor their memory, let us not dwell on the sadness of their passing, but instead celebrate the richness of their lives and the profound influence they have on who had the privilege of knowing them.”
Alhalholy also noted NMSU’s diverse community and her confidence in the student body to support each other through grief.
“NMSU has always been a place for students with different backgrounds and cultures to come together and create memories,” she said. “I wholeheartedly believe in the compassion and mindfulness that define our student body.””
After the Aggies names were read, NMSU Fire Chief Johnny Carrillo rang a memorial bell, which signified the silence of grief being replaced by beautiful memories of lost loved ones.
One of the students who was honored in the ceremony was Thalia V. Chaverria, a former member of the NMSU women’s soccer team, who passed away in July 2023. Team members wore purple to the ceremony, which was Chaverria’s favorite color. Over the course of the last soccer season, team members wore purple headbands and bracelets during all of their games. Coach Rob Baarts said Chavarria will continue to be remembered as long as he is coaching.
“Oh, as long as I’m coaching there will be something on me in purple, forever,” Baarts said.
