Students help with November cleaning of Bonfire Memorial

Applying a little soap, polish and elbow grease, on Nov. 2 students from a world architecture history class led by Kevin Glowacki, assistant professor of architecture, joined other volunteers in the annual cleaning of the highly revered Texas A&M [Bonfire Memorial] (http://bonfire.tamu.edu) , an effort orchestrated by the [University Art Galleries] (http://uart.tamu.edu) .

November 18, 2012 will mark the 13th anniversary of the Bonfire tragedy, in which 12 Aggies lost their lives.

The memorial’s lead [designer] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/spring2005/bonfiredesign.html) , Robert Shemwell, earned a [Bachelor of Environmental Design] (http://dept.arch.tamu.edu/undergraduate/academics/) degree from Texas A&M in 1982 and is an outstanding alumnus of the college. Shemwell is a principal with San Antonio-based [Overland Partners, Inc.] (http://www.overlandpartners.com/home.htm)

The memorial was included as one of the U.S.’ 37 most beloved national landmarks by bestselling author Judith Dupré in her 2007 book “ [Monuments — America’s History in Art and Memory] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/spring2008/stories/bonfireMemorial.html) .”

One of the portals the students helped clean commemorates [Jamie Lynn Hand] (http://bonfire.tamu.edu/%7Ebonfire/jHand) , a freshman environmental design major from Henderson, Texas.

“It’s just so awesome being out there at cut and everybody’s so motivated and working together to cut down trees and move them,” Hand wrote in an Oct. 4, 1999 e-mail to her mother.