For Carissa Matthews, being a Remembrance Scholar means more than just a scholarship.

‘Once you’re a Remembrance Scholar, you’re charged with living out a victim’s legacy,’ she said. The decision to embody that, Matthews said, didn’t take long to determine. Matthews said she wanted to be a Remembrance Scholar since freshman year.

The inspiration came from a member of the program living on her floor.

A more difficult decision for the senior public relations major was selecting the Pan Am Flight 103 victim she wanted to represent.

She finally chose Pamela Herbert, in part because of her deep religious convictions.

‘She was a really strong Christian and I really admired the way she lived up to her faith,’ Matthews said.

Herbert was a junior economics and sociology major at Bowdon College in Brunswick, Maine, who was studying at the London School of Economics through Syracuse University.

‘It’s this university 20 years ago,’ she said. ‘They were planning their lives and having that cut short. It’s tragic.’

While researching the victims, Matthews said she was overwhelmed thinking about her parents and how they would react if she didn’t come home.

‘I was in the archives crying,’ she said.

Matthews also admired that while in London, Herbert took an interest in the homeless and wanted to do something about it when she returned home.

‘I really related to her because of something her sister said, ‘if she [Herbert] had a dollar, she’d give you 99 cents,’ Matthews said.