Months after the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Iowa State students and staff who sacrificed part of their Thanksgiving break to establish a memorial in Oklahoma City said the situation is still “pretty grim.”

The students and staff helped plant 150 little leaf Linden trees and 19 Crabapple trees on the Oklahoma Capitol Building grounds Nov. 17-19. One-hundred and fifty adults and 19 children were killed in a bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building last spring.

Organizers said the effort was an attempt to repay Oklahoma citizens for their help during the Iowa flood in the summer of 1993.

Many ISU horticulture students and faculty made the trip, which was planned by the late Dan Cooper, ISU extension horticulturist who died in September.

“He wanted to think of some way the state of Iowa could pay them [Oklahomans] back,” said Mike Gaul, a faculty member with the Horticulture Resource and Career Center.

Gaul said it is sad that Cooper did not get the opportunity to see the project carried out, yet he was happy his group could help make it possible for the trees to be planted.

“It was kind of fitting that it was carried out,” he said. “We pulled up to the [bombing site] and you could tell you were there. We looked at it in disbelief. It’s hard to think something like this could actually happen.”

ISU and other college students acted as ushers who seated family members of the victims at the dedication ceremony. Kevin Wischmeier, a junior in horticulture, said he was glad he went to help out.

“I thought it was good because I was involved [with the Iowa flood],” he said. “To do something for somebody else was important.”

Wischmeier said it was strange to see where the federal building used to be located. “Nobody spoke. The building was like a ghost town,” he said.

ISU faculty participants included: Jeff Iles, Michael Evans, Wayne Hefley, Gaul and Mark Vitosh. ISU horticulture students included: Barb Bayliss, Craig Bradke, Tim Clark, Sue Eivins, Krissy Feldman, Amy Grace, Renee Hanlon, Linda Hanson, Jody Hayes, Julie Hunt, Brian Krug, Viveka Ransom, Curt Schroeder, Kris Seeman, Susan Smith, Mike Tusynski, Sean West, Kevin Wischmeier, Younes Saad, James Romer and Melissa Russatto.