Victoria Arakelian's path to Pennsylvania began last fall with a desire to contribute to a memorial for the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The 14-year-old Wenham resident, who goes by Tori, had a community service assignment at Miles River Middle School in Hamilton. She came up with an idea to design glass eagle statues as a tribute.
"Eagles are strong and symbolize freedom," she said, "and I thought of glass because I thought it would look beautiful."
So she contacted John Volpacchio, a professor of glass at Salem State College, and got him on board to help her design and create the eagles. There are 40 of them, to memorialize each of the 40 passengers and crew members who perished.
The project took months. Tori made clay models and worked through design ideas with the professor. Then he and his assistant, Chris Jones, painstakingly created each handmade eagle from 16 individual pieces of glass.
"When you see them made out of glass, it's almost magical," Volpacchio said. "It's like they're frozen in motion."
The eagles took flight last week, setting out from the North Shore and down to Stonycreek Township, Pa., where Tori delivered them to the site where Flight 93 crashed almost eight years ago. She rode with her mother, aunt and uncle.
"It was very emotional when we got there," Tori said. "You go over this hill, and then you see the site."
There, the Flight 93 Memorial site manager led Tori through a barrier and to the field. Tori laid the glass eagles on a black blanket on the ground, for which she had to get a permit from the Department of the Interior, according to her mother, Jennifer Arakelian.
"(The site manager) raised the barrier to the field across and let her in," Arakelian said. "There is a flag in the distance where the plane went down. We all began to cry. It's a final resting place, and you really feel the impact of that while you're there."
After the eagles rested on the field, the staff boxed and numbered them to deliver them to the National Archives, where they will be cared for in perpetuity, according to Arakelian. When a permanent Flight 93 memorial is built, Tori's donated eagles will be available for selection to be included in a revolving exhibit, she said.
"While I was there, I just felt moved by what I saw," Tori said, "and happy I could do something for the people of Flight 93."
An idea takes flight
Tori's project was initially inspired by a movie about United Airlines Flight 93, whose passengers mounted an assault against the hijackers and diverted the plane, which crashed in the Pennsylvania field.
It was the only plane of the four hijacked on Sept. 11 that didn't hit its intended target.
"I thought that people should know about the heroes on that plane," said Tori, who lives in Wenham with her mother.
The National Park Service maintains the Flight 93 memorial site, which is in southwestern Pennsylvania. Almost immediately after the crash of Flight 93, visitors began arriving and a temporary memorial was established; plans for a permanent memorial are underway, according to the park service's Web site.
At first, Tori thought she could sell the eagles to raise money for the memorial fund. Then she hoped to donate an eagle to each of the families whose loved ones died in Flight 93, but it was logistically overwhelming.
As she was confronted with obstacles, Tori said, her teachers and others encouraged her and helped her go in new directions.
Ultimately, she was able to donate the eagles to the National Archives. So she and her family carefully packed them up last week and gingerly carted them to Stonycreek Township in a rented van.
"It's nice that they're all together," Volpacchio said of the eagles.
Enterprise in Beverly gave the Arakelians half-off the van rental price, and the Holiday Inn in Pennsylvania donated a room so they could stay there for free, according to Jennifer Arakelian, who is a special education teacher at Masconomet.
Tori's efforts were recognized by the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign in Washington, D.C., which posted her story on its Web site.
"I'm extremely proud of her, and it wouldn't have been possible without the help of so many people," Arakelian said. "It was a learning process, which all artists go through."
Tori likes art, among other hobbies.
"There are a lot of things I want to be," said Tori, who is entering grade eight at Miles River. "I like writing a lot. I enjoy reading and violin. I draw realistically, and I draw anime-style. I like sculpting whenever I can, and I love painting."
In the Salem State College Glassworks Studio on a recent afternoon, Volpacchio explained how each eagle that he and Tori designed is in a stage of motion, and they're all different since each one is handmade.
"It's the most of one thing I've ever made for a specific purpose," Volpacchio said.
"They each have their own unique identity," Arakelian said, "just like the passengers and the crew of Flight 93."
Staff writer Amanda McGregor can be reached at amcgregor@salemnews.com or at 978-338-2665.
