Wednesday marks 34 years since 270 people were killed in a terrorist bombing that took place aboard Pan AM flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland.

Thirty-five Syracuse University Students who had been studying abroad were among those lost.

For families taking part in memorials in Washington D.C. and organizers of a remembrance ceremony in Syracuse, it doesn’t matter how many years pass, the priority will always be honoring the victims who were killed in the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103.

Syracuse University Cheerleader Cathy Crossland tries to hold in the tears during a moment of silence prior to the start of basketball game in the Carrier Dome, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1988. (AP Photo/Michael Okoniewski)

On Dec. 21, 1988, flight 103 went down over Lockerbie, Scotland. The lives lost included 35 Syracuse University students, two SUNY Oswego students, a couple from the town of Clay and several people who were on the ground in Lockerbie.

Through Wednesday’s ceremony, Remembrance Week in October and the Remembrance Scholar Program, the university has long stressed the importance of honoring those who lost their lives, as well as their families.

Kelly Rodoski was a Syracuse University student at the time of the attack. She said the lack of instant communication in those days made the hours after the news broke confusing and devastating, and the proximity to the holidays and the school break made the experience all the more heartbreaking.

For the past decades, she has been a part of organizing events to honor the people killed, and said she will continue to be a part of the tributes, stressing that they are now written into the story of Syracuse University, forever linking the school with the lives and families of those who were lost.

Syracuse University sophomore Courtney Ellinger, 19, hugs another student after leaving a memorial service at the school’s Hendricks Chapel in Syracuse, New York, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1988. (AP Photo/Michael J. Okoniewski)

“Our chancellor at the time, Melvin Eggers, promised that we would never forget this incident, and we would never forget those who we lost, and this is just us continuing to do that,” she said.

While organizer Brian Konkol stressed the importance of continuing to hold ceremonies like this one as a way of making sure incoming and current students don't forget, he also wanted to raise awareness of and stand against terrorism.

“I’m a big believer of the quote from Mark Twain that says history does not necessarily repeat itself, but history does tend to rhyme,” he said. “When you think of the rhythm and rhyme of history, it’s important for us to remember acts of terror, and of violence that took the lives of those on Pan AM 103. And as we continue to live in a world that has violence and terror, we have to look within ourselves and ask, ‘What am I doing to create a better world?’”

The suspect who allegedly made the bomb that detonated was recently transferred into U.S. custody and appeared in federal court last week.

The ceremony on Wednesday included a private remembrance, followed by a procession to The Place of Remembrance on the center of campus.

Mrs. Arnold Arelsky, right, holds a photograph of her daughter, Rachel, during a protest in front of the Pan Am ticket office on Fifth Avenue in New York on Friday, Dec. 21, 1990. Her husband , Arnold, reads the names of the victims who died in the bombing of Pan Am fight 103 two years ago. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)