Most days, the area in front of St. Joan of Arc Chapel is occupied mainly by students walking to class.

Monday, Sept. 8 was not most days.

Instead of quickly passing by, groups of students were sitting still, some in the grass and others on their hands and knees with a piece of sidewalk chalk in hand. Flowers sat in front of the sidewalk and one professor stood, overseeing it all.

It was almost silent at Central Mall, but nowhere near empty.

A few dozen students were drawing messages to honor the lives of two Marquette students, Noah Snyder and Scott Michaud, who lost their lives in a Sept. 5 car crash.

Professor Stephen Bach brought all three of his Monday classes to Central Mall to pay tribute to Snyder and Michaud, both of whom were Marquette men’s lacrosse players. By 2:30 p.m., the once-beige pavement was adorned with a rainbow-array of colors. The ends of chalk sticks were blunted. Chalk dust covered personal belongings.

Jackson Kuehn, whose phone was one of those belongings, was drawing a heart with Noah and Scott’s names inside.

“Even though we don’t know them personally, I still want to support in any way I can,” he said. “I feel like this is the least I can do.”

Kuehn said his heart is with the students’ families, friends and the people loved them.

“This loss will stay with them forever,” he said, “but in any way that we can, we should try to help them through that.” 

As soon as Bach heard the news Friday evening, he knew he had to do something, so he went to the store and bought boxes of sidewalk chalk and flowers.

“Sometimes a little thing can mean a lot,” he said.

As his third class of the day sat, drawing hearts and kind messages, Bach noticed people stopping to look and participate.

But this didn’t surprise him, because he said this is exactly what Marquette is all about.

“I think people here are just looking out for people,” he said.

Three first-year students were sitting together on campus Monday afternoon. One of them, Piper Berge, said she’s felt a “universal heaviness” among the entire Marquette community.

“We’re all in the same boat of starting new,” she said. “We have these expectations of our future, then just hearing that got cut short for two people was very, very unfortunate.”

All three girls were together when they heard the news and Kara O’Neil said it just “didn’t feel real.” Since then, she noticed the mood on campus has been quiet and sad.

The group attended the memorial Mass at Varsity Theatre in honor of Snyder and Michaud on Sept. 6. By the time they showed up, right when it began, it was already so crowded the 1,000-seat auditorium was full, so they stood in the atrium.

“Lots of people were crying,” Julia Schindler said. “It was very emotional.”

But she noticed there was also a level of respect for everyone there. Faculty handed out tissues and supported students through the service.

“The masses I’ve been to have been spiritual and happy,” Berge said. “This was quiet, and the songs felt like they had a different meaning, like the words behind it had a different interpretation.”

At Berge’s high school, she experienced the loss of classmates, but she said this was a whole different experience all together.

“Here, it felt a lot more intimate and genuine,” she said. 

All three students said their professors have sent out emails with resources offering support as well as carving out class time to address the deaths.

Back on the quad, Bach said he hopes this act of covering the sidewalks in tributes to Snyder and Michaud will inspire the rest of the community, whether or not they knew them, to know that they have the power to make a difference.

No matter how small.

This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at [email protected].

Jack Albright contributed to this report.