The second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon will be commemorated briefly on campus Thursday, but university and community officials said they’re leaving it up to individuals to remember in their own ways.

Marty Martinez, psychologist at ISU Student Counseling Services, said grieving a loss is often done on a personal, individual level after time passes.

“The lack of a more institutional kind of remembrance is not an indication that we’ve stopped grieving. We continue to do that, and will continue to do that,” he said. “At this point I have a feeling that people are at a place where they’re able to kind of gather their own groups of family or friends and that there isn’t as great a need [for organized events]. The healing process would include it becoming more and more of a personal thing.”

As requested by President Bush, flags will be flown at half- staff and a moment of silence will be observed at 7:46 a.m. Central Daylight Time, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

University Carillonneur Tin-shi Tam will toll the bells of the Campanile 11 times after the moment of silence.

Few activities are planned in the Ames community. A representative from the Ames Fire Department said employees will hold a ceremony to remember firefighters killed on Sept. 11. They will lower their flag to half staff and ring a bell at 8:59 a.m., when the first tower fell.

The following houses of worship said they had no special programs or services scheduled for the anniversary: St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center, First Evangelical Free Church, Bethesda Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church and St. Johns by the Campus Episcopal Church.

Clare Bills, public relations officer for Ames, said she believes the anniversary will be “low key” this year. “I think part of it was that the first year after [the attacks] is like when someone dies in your family; the whole first year is the hardest,” she said. “This year, I think there was a feeling of wanting to close a chapter on some of that pain.”

Pete Englin, dean of students, said students are in a place where they can “personally commemorate” the meaning of the anniversary for themselves.

“I’ve heard very little conversation about the second anniversary,” he said. “I don’t have a good reason why that would be.”

Englin said the generation affected by Sept. 11 may remember the events differently than generations affected by World War II or the Vietnam War.

“The world in which our traditional-age students grew up in is vastly different,” he said. “I think each generation makes sense of those experiences in their own way. After one year, maybe people are still trying to make sense of this.”

Martinez said students should make plans to spend the day with their loved ones if they are still grieving over the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Some people may think, ‘If there’s not these big groups meeting in remembrance it must mean I shouldn’t need it by now and if I do there’s something wrong with me,'” he said. “That’s not true. We may be just as impacted as we were a year ago, but we’re probably in a place where we’re dealing with it more effectively and that’s a good sign.”Bills said she is confident Americans will keep the anniversary in their thoughts while going about their daily activities on Thursday.

“The second anniversary doesn’t mean people are not going to think about it; of course they are, but there is a sense of, ‘Let’s not make this something we have to go through like dredging up all that pain and memories. Let’s do some quiet and respectful things.'”