9/11 Memorial Located in Front of Edison Hall Honors Heroes

September 25, 2013

Written by: Jasmine Ramos - Contributing Writer
Publication: Monmouth University's - The Outlook Newspaper
Project: Monmouth University: 9/11 Memorial

Students were able to pay their respect at the new memorial, a piece of the World Trade Center that is placed in front of Edison Hall in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. The memorial was donated two years ago but was put on display at the beginning of the school year.

The University came together to commemorate the tragic loss that occurred 12 years ago, which began with the scheduled ringing of the bells that called for a moment of silence throughout the University in honor of the lives lost.

The University’s September 11 Veteran Memorial is created from a piece of steel that was pulled directly from the World Trade Center wreckage site. On the podium, the message “Here stands once more a symbol to 9/11 Heroes and America’s Military Veterans” is engraved.

Luis and Judith Eisenberg donated the memorial two years ago as the current trustees of the University’s Student Veterans Association. During the time of Sept. 11, Luis Eisenberg was the Chairman to the Port Authorities of New Jersey and New York, which owned part of the World Trade Center. ThePort Authority had an office within one of the Twin Towers, and according to a New York 1 story, lost 84 employees in the attack, 34 of them being Authority Police.

Eisenberg spoke to NJ.com on September 13, 2001 about the horrific attacks, “For an agency that at one time or another touches virtually everybody in the region, the human loss was ‘incalculable.’ Everything will be different, but we will move forward.”

The University’s memorial is a result of the company moving forward through the honoring of the lives lost during the attack and the wars that followed.

Mary Anne Nagy, Vice President for Student and Community Service said, “It is meant to recognize the sacrifice of so many people for what you and I very much enjoy today, which is our freedom to live, worship and work, and unfortunately there are places in this world where you cannot do that every day.”

Klose Associates Inc, an International Design and Production company was involved in creating the memorial.

Raymond G. Klose, President and CEO of the Klose Associates and alumnus of the University, was approached by the University to look at the project.

Klose said, “After our first meeting with the University we offered to provide 3D designs, plans, engineering along with project production supervision. I wanted to extend to the University all of our creative resources to help this project along. Veterans Affairs, First Responders and the tragedy of September 11 is an especially sensitive subject in the surrounding communities.”

Klose continued, “The podium idea was immediate upon examination of the [World Trade Center] artifact and a tour of the proposed location. Facing the Student Center and at the base of the stairs…”

Klose further explained, “The podium was chosen to provide an opportunity to display the artifact in an upright vertical position, ‘providing support’ for an exchange of creative ideas and solutions. A platform for the expression of individual forward thinking and a natural gathering place that would encourage peaceful intelligent debate.”

Georga Torres, a freshman, said, “I think it is important that the school has something to remember those lives that were innocently lost on 9/11. Many people on campus probably have some sort of connection to that day or know someone that probably lost someone close to them and it is a good way to keep them in our memory for their bravery.”

Torres continued, “9/11 was such a tragic event, and it was important to remember those who lost their lives trying to save our country. These people were mothers, fathers, sons, daughter and it is important to commutate their acts of valor.”

“Since 9/11 affected all of America, they should be remembered everywhere, especially here at Monmouth,” said Akintunde Obafemi, a freshman.

“That day is a day that, we as Americans, can come together and remember those brave men and women and say we are proud to be Americans,” said Obafemi.

On November 11, the school will be holding a dedication to the memorial, where Mr. and Mrs. Eisenberg are invited, during a National Call of Remembrance. The names of those who were lost, not only during September 11, but those who served overseas after September 11 will be remembered on that day.

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Colonial American Bank: A New Experience in Community Banking

September 28, 2012

Publication: New Jersey Banker
Project: Colonial American Bank: Middletown Branch

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Long Branch's Fantasy Factory

August 23, 2012

Written by: Molly Mulshine
Publication: Tri City News

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Klose Associates Recognized at the 2009 MOD Awards as a Leader in Stylish & Affordable Modular Exhibit Design

March 6, 2009

Theme Weavers: Klose Associates Designs Retro Diner-Themed Booth for Belfer Lighting at the Lightfair International Show

March 2, 2009

Written by: Elisabeth Miller - Associate Writer
Publication: Exhibitor Magazine
Project: Belfer Lighting: Lightfair Rental Exhibit

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Klose Associates Celebrates 25th Anniversary at TS2 Philadelphia with New Custom Corporate Exhibit

August 4, 2008

Before You Enter the Federal Air Marshals Exhibit, Buckle Up!

September 24, 2007

Publication: Focus FAA Website
Project: FAA: FAM Custom Fuselage Exhibit

The booth was designed to be easily disassembled for cross-country transport.

Undergoing turbulence on the ground isn't nearly as unsettling as enduring it in the air. Indeed, when the earth-bound experience involves flat-screen plasma TVs and massage chairs, people stand in line for it.

The Federal Air Marshal exhibit, with its interactive touch-screen features and patriotic soundtrack (not to mention those massage chairs), offers a 20-minute lesson about the Transportation Security Administration's law enforcement agency. Created by members of the FAA and the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ, the exhibit has toured the country since last October, attracting crowds at each stop.

Air marshal and project manager David Adams said the production team's goal was to create an interactive display that would grab — and keep — people's attention. The result is a scenario that resembles a souped-up version of the first-class section of a commercial airliner, complete with cushy recliners, drink holders, and individual TV screens.

The old FAMS display was out-of-date, said FAA exhibit designer and creator Michael Roames at the Tech Center. The typical brochures, posters, and foldout tables at recruiting shows were being overlooked, so FAM administrators were looking for a booth design that would draw more attention.

The original sketch by Michael Roames done at the planning meeting. He said it was the only time in his career that he was given full discretion to follow his creative impulses.

“We can't buy those fancy trinkets to hand out to people, so we needed something else to attract people to the booth,” Roames said. “With this, we don't have to give people anything. They want to come over and sit down to see what it's all about.”

Roames and his team might have done their job too well, if such a thing is possible. Visitors often line up 30 minutes before show time to make sure they get a turn.

“The joke is that the only thing we didn’t design into it is a break for the people who are working the booth,” he said. “It kind of worked backward from what we thought it would — it’s done much better than expected.”

The tunes and sound effects are also hard to beat. Music by Lee Greenwood, best known for “God Bless the USA,” plays in the background while images of 9/11 and other events are broadcast. On the individual screens, viewers can choose among three- to four-minute segments of the history of the FAMS, the training of service members, and instructions on how to apply to the agency. Voiceover narration and sounds of aircraft are piped through headphones.

“When the sounds of jets taking off come on, people often look around and think a plane is landing,” Adams said.

The creators hope the exhibit functions both as an effective recruiting tool and as a means of increasing the public’s awareness of what air marshals do. The core message Adams hopes visitors take away from the experience is the professionalism of the agency. The message might be working — he claims several participants have already asked where they can sign up.

“We’ve had people apply, and people who asked where we built the exhibit,” Adams said. “Other agencies have since contacted the FAA to build something similar.”

Michael Roames of the FAA's Advanced Imaging Division.

Since its debut at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual convention in Boston last October, the display has been set up at three other locations, including Andrews Air Force Base and the recent 31st Annual Conference of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives in Fort Lauderdale. Its standing touring schedule has no expiration date. The exhibit’s software was designed to be updated at any time.

“We can change the content whenever we want, before a show or even during a show,” Roames said.

For those who might balk at the luxury of massage chairs in a federal display, keep in mind the alternative – actual airline chairs. At about $600 a seat, the massage recliners are a bargain compared to the $2,500 real thing. Besides, the vibrations make the experience a little more realistic.

“We call them ‘turbulence seats,’” Adams said.

For more news, features and employee opinion, access Focus FAA.

A Portal To The Future Of Education

June 15, 2007

Project: Verizon Foundation: Thinkfinity - Custom Island Exhibit & Informational Kiosks

Thinkfinity.org - the Verizon Foundation’s free educational network of educational resources and teaching tools for Grades K-12 – needed more than a powerful trade show exhibit.

They needed an exhibit to empower the future of education itself.

The story of the Thinkfinity.org exhibit at the NECC conference is the story of a well orchestrated trade show exhibit designed by Klose Associates to display the very future of education, a future that Thinkfinity.org wanted educators to imagine, to experience, and to help co-create.

The Exhibit Begins

In March 2007, the Verizon Foundation announced a $31 million investment to enhance its online educational platform supporting teachers, students and educational organizations. The Thinkfinity.org platform is the result of this commitment. With the support of many impressive educational sponsors including the Kennedy Foundation, Thinkfinity.org was set to exhibit the largest, most expansive online access to a universe of educational information.

Now they needed to exhibit their ingenuity to the educators who would be responsible for its widespread implementation.

The unveiling of the new Thinkfinity.org platform was scheduled to take place at their trade show exhibit, at the largest US annual educational conference, National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), June 24-27, 2007, Atlanta GA.

NECC is sponsored by the International Society for Technology in Education and the ISTE 100 Alliance, a group of organizations and corporations supporting the effective use of technology in education. The Thinkfininty.org exhibit needed to draw at least 10% of the 14,000 NECC educators into the exhibit display, where they would experience a hands-on interaction with education, Thinkfinity-style.

An Exhibit of Educational Style

Today’s kids exhibit their own educational style. They learn in the world of iPods, cell phones and X-boxes. Producing interactive, engaging lessons plans in the classroom is necessary for kids to have interaction with their education.

In an industry where trade show exhibits are more traditionally covered in primary colors, the Thinkfinity.org exhibit was designed to cut through the confusion, and get right to the point.

Klose Associates, Inc., specializing in custom trade show exhibits and custom trade show exhibit rentals, quickly understood that Thinkfinity.org wasn’t just introducing a new platform, they were introducing a new future of education, where self-learners and future leaders could thrive.

At the essence of their design challenge, Klose Associates knew that the Thinkfinity.org exhibit needed to exhibit an environment that was both highly interactive and 'smart'. Thus, every inch of the 20’ x 40’ exhibit floor space was designed to engage NECC attendees in the future of education, available now.

The curved trade show exhibit walls began by suggesting a 'free flowing' interactive exchange of ideas and information in education.

Inside the Thinkfinity.org exhibit, attendees found themselves in a world of “portals to the future of education,” including exhibit lightboxes, reflective graphics and kiosk foot pads.

Oversized 36" diameter lightbox portals visually pierced8’ x 16' exhibit walls, both literally and symbolically going beneath the“surface” into the expansive future.

And under the surface, the Thinkfinity.org exhibit combined environmentally friendly exhibit materials with a traditional wood core, bringing up thoughts of a sustainable future.

Clean and uncluttered with lots of open space, the Thinkfinity.org exhibit was designed to be highly utilitarian, reinforcing the online platform’s ease of use. White surfaces were the backdrop for bold exhibit graphics, placed sparingly and strategically against alternating white textures of the exhibit walls.

The total budget for the Thinkfinity.org 20 x 40 custom exhibit was $200,000.

Exhibit: The Classroom of the Future

At the heart of the Thinkfinity.org exhibit, Klose Associates created the classroom of the future with space-age Jetson’s style chairs and tables – the Enlightened Classroom – where the teachers became the students and the Thinkfinity.org platform was at the head of the class.

In The Enlightened Classroom, teachers and students interacted outside the box, using Thinkfinity.org to facilitate and further the exchange of ideas. In this classroom exhibit, educators experienced like students, involved and excited. These students helped create their own learning and the teachers of today remembered why they were so excited about teaching in the first place.

Later, at a planned Product Improvisation Presentation in the booth, 10 year old child writer Adora Svitak used Thinkfinity on the spot, to create a story with audience participation, her own writing skills, and the Thinkfinity platform. While James Earl Jones read The Princess and the Pea, Adora stood in the exhibit and searched through Thinkfinity.org resources for fresh ideas, creating a modern-day version of the fairy tale, which now resides on the Thinkfinity.org homepage. Over 250 attendees plus press and VIPs from ISTE, Verizon and the Georgia State Legislature, stood in the exhibit to participate in this unique product demonstration.

The Press Exhibits Interest

All eyes were on the Thinkfinity.org exhibit. CBS 46 in Atlanta interviewed Adora Svitak at the Thinkfinity.org booth. WXIA 11, an NBC affiliate in Altanta, sent education reporter Donna Lowry to interview ISTE president Trina Davis and Verizon spokesperson James Earl Jones. Atlanta Journal Constitution Reporter Diane Stepp described the Thinkfinity.org exhibit as one of the high points of the NECC conference.

Edutopia Magazine Editor James Daily also covered Thinkfinity.org exhibit. Mac Edition Radio Host/Executive Producer Harris Fogel interviewed Adora Svitak, for on air and website posting. Apple’s video crew interviewed Thinkfinity’s Jennifer Fritschi and Adora Svitak for a podcast on the itunes website.

Exhibit Success

The Thinkfinity.org exhibit was so full during show hours, at times it was standing room only in The Enlightened Classroom. The total number of leads counted afterwards of those who visited the Thinkfinity.org exhibit was 2500 – 18% of the total NECC audience. Over 800 attendees participated in the exhibit Classroom presentation. And well over 1500 people attended breakout sessions outside the booth itself.

After NECC: Thinkfinity Exhibits at Magna Carta Rededication

The Thinkfinity.org exhibit was designed to be used in different configurations, to promote Thinfinity.org at a wide variety of venues and planned educational appearances. Shortly after its premier at NECC, the exhibit traveled in a smaller configuration to Philadelphia, PA, for a July 3 Rededication of the Magna Carta, hosted by the Verizon Foundation with spokesperson James Earl Jones.

A long and imaginative tour is currently planned for the Thinkfinity.org exhibit, as it continues to introduce teachers and students to education that will shape the future – and the future looks like fun.