For the communities at Syracuse University and the Scottish town of Lockerbie it was an especially dark day. All 259 passengers aboard Pan Am Flight 103 including 35 SU students, plus 11 villagers on the ground, perished from the actions of those determined to do evil.

Now 25 years later, the many stories of what happened on that fateful flight, the many ways society has adjusted and many aspirations of converting the pain into a call for world peace persist.

In August 2013, 26 students in the Web Journalism and Innovation course at SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications embarked on exploring the Pan Am 103 tragedy in hopes of presenting the topic as a multimedia experience. They researched issues, designed concepts, compiled current and archival material, filmed and edited videos and ultimately programmed the six interactive packages that make up this project.

This proved to be a learning experience filled with lessons about multifaceted journalism, the technical aspects of building digital projects and, on a personal level, understanding the impact an event of this magnitude has had during the past quarter century.

Takeoff
Timeline of Pan Am Flight 103

Honoring those we lost
Tributes and the London experience for 35 SU students

Societal shifts
Terrorism and security changes ever since

Look back, act forward
Meet the 2013 Remembrance Scholars

A bond within the wreckage
How Syracuse and Lockerbie became forever intertwined

Shaping the future
Moving beyond the tragedy

About the Project
The inspiration and team behind these interactives