USI hosts fourth annual Flowers on the Lake ceremony

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, the University of Southern Indiana's Sexual Assault Gender Violence Prevention Committee will host its fourth annual Flowers on the Lake presentation. The event will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday October 13 at the Labyrinth in front of the Liberal Arts Center, and is free and open to the public. 

"Students get to inspire hope in ending violence and help victims and their families heal," said Melinda Roberts, director of Gender Studies at the University of Southern Indiana. "The month of October marks a time of awareness about domestic violence. The idea is to push for individuals to speak up about the issue and to help comfort the families, friends and community of domestic violence victims, all while allowing students and fellow community members to be included in this heart touching presentation.

During the presentation, students will speak about victims whose lives have been lost in Indiana due to intimate partner homicide. Guests will be handed pamphlets in the shape of cones filled with flower petals. Following a moment of silence, the group will be led to Reflection Lake to scatter the petals across the water in memory of the victims and to honor the survivors. In an addition to the presentation there will be life sized silhouettes in various locations on campus representing real victims in Indiana. These silhouettes involve research done by students to create badges that tell the story of the victim. There will be both adult and child silhouettes in the displays.

For more information about this event contact Melinda Roberts at 812-461-5475 or at mrroberts1@usi.edu.