Robert Arso, a Bismarck State College department chair and native of Brooklyn, N.Y., will leave his hand-stitched mark on The National 9/11 Flag displayed Friday, Aug. 12, at the state capitol.
Designated an official stitcher, Arso is among a handful of North Dakotans chosen from nominations by the New York Says Thank You Foundation to sew a restorative patch to the 9/11 flag. The foundation is touring the 9/11 flag nationwide in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks.
Hanging tattered from a building at Ground Zero, the 30-foot flag was removed by a construction worker and stuffed in a bag for seven years until tornado survivors in Greensburg, Kans., stitched it back together in 2008.
FDNY firefighters will assist Arso and other nominees sew fabric onto the 9/11 flag using sections from an American flag flown in North Dakota that is destined for retirement. The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. Stitching by the public follows until 1 p.m.
"I'm really honored and proud to be selected to do this for the state and the country," said Arso, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and North Dakota Army National Guard with service in Operation Desert Storm.
Arso chairs the BSC Career and Technology Department and is professor of electronics-telecommunications technology. He arrived in North Dakota via the Minot Air Force Base and began his 37-year career at BSC in 1974. His nomination came from his daughter, Teri Arso, for his military and teaching accomplishments.
She wrote: "He was born in New York and . . . For the past 30 years, he has shared his knowledge with the students at Bismarck State College in an effort to stitch together productive individuals with careers that help them build constructive lives and be good citizens."
Nominees were sought from civic organizations and the public for people considered local service heroes. The mission of the New York Says Thank You Foundation is to honor the generosity extended to New York by Americans across the country in the days and months following the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks.
The National 9/11 Flag is destined to become part of the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero.
Designated an official stitcher, Arso is among a handful of North Dakotans chosen from nominations by the New York Says Thank You Foundation to sew a restorative patch to the 9/11 flag. The foundation is touring the 9/11 flag nationwide in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks.
Hanging tattered from a building at Ground Zero, the 30-foot flag was removed by a construction worker and stuffed in a bag for seven years until tornado survivors in Greensburg, Kans., stitched it back together in 2008.
FDNY firefighters will assist Arso and other nominees sew fabric onto the 9/11 flag using sections from an American flag flown in North Dakota that is destined for retirement. The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. Stitching by the public follows until 1 p.m.
"I'm really honored and proud to be selected to do this for the state and the country," said Arso, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and North Dakota Army National Guard with service in Operation Desert Storm.
Arso chairs the BSC Career and Technology Department and is professor of electronics-telecommunications technology. He arrived in North Dakota via the Minot Air Force Base and began his 37-year career at BSC in 1974. His nomination came from his daughter, Teri Arso, for his military and teaching accomplishments.
She wrote: "He was born in New York and . . . For the past 30 years, he has shared his knowledge with the students at Bismarck State College in an effort to stitch together productive individuals with careers that help them build constructive lives and be good citizens."
Nominees were sought from civic organizations and the public for people considered local service heroes. The mission of the New York Says Thank You Foundation is to honor the generosity extended to New York by Americans across the country in the days and months following the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks.
The National 9/11 Flag is destined to become part of the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero.