Saturday in remembrance of a student who lost her life during a school shooting.

Austin Cloyd lost her life during the 2007 school shooting at Virginia Tech, where she was a freshman. Cloyd was a Champaign resident before leaving for college, and she had an impact in service activities and volunteer work around the city. The university will have its third annual day of remembrance, known as Austin’s Day, Saturday. Leslie Lloyd, health care management associate professor, said Austin’s Day has become more substantial since the event’s first year.

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“It’s growing,” Lloyd said, “The first year was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

The first year of the event was informal and was only planned a few months in advance, she said. Three agencies — the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale, Southern Illinois Healthcare Breast Center, and Keep Carbondale Beautiful — as well as about 40 volunteers participated in volunteer work. Last year about 75 volunteers participated, and Lloyd said organizers expect between 50 to 60 volunteers this year.

Chancellor Rita Cheng said she gives her full support to Austin’s Day.

“This is something our students have done for a number of years, and it’s something that I try to stop by to say hello and support,” she said.

Austin’s Day events remind the campus of the importance of supporting families who have experienced tragedies, Cheng said.

Krystle Zubik, Austin’s Day program coordinator and senior from Braidwood majoring in health care management, said preventing campus violence is a goal of Austin’s Day.

“My personal goal is to get people aware for the shootings that happen at school,” she said. “I think it’s important for people to know that we’re all here for a reason — for education — and there shouldn’t be violence,” she said.

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The day begins at 9 a.m. when all volunteers will meet at the Mary Simon Memorial sculpture near the Applied Sciences and Arts building to find out which local agency they will assist for the day. At about 9:30, there will be a candlelight ceremony and a prayer for all school shooting victims and survivors.

Some of the volunteer agencies that people will join are Shawnee Health Services in Carterville, Keep Carbondale Clean and the Boys and Girls Club, both in Carbondale, and SIUC’s Center for Service-Learning and Volunteerism, Lloyd said. Other agencies volunteers have offered services to, but have not confirmed as resources yet, include the Breast Center of Carbondale, United Way of Carbondale, the Marion Humane Society and the Women’s Center of Carbondale, she said.

The event will also feature a speaker who experienced campus violence firsthand. Although she wasn’t physically injured, former NIU student Christina Meo, who was on the NIU campus during the 2008 campus shooting, has spoken at the event each year.

Lloyd said she wants to spread violence awareness throughout the day, but her main focus is to give love and support to survivors.

“(Austin’s motto was) no one can do everything, but everyone can do something,” she said. “If everyone does something, then together we can change the world,” she said.