As the Thanksgiving holiday nears, survivors of last fall's bus crash and friends of one of the victims will have a place to remember a Penn State student who died in the accident.

Denise Orndorff, a student scheduled to graduate last spring, and a bus driver, Robert Clifford Burge, died in the accident Nov. 21 while returning from a New York City trip. A living memorial will be unveiled in remembrance of Orndorff this Sunday.

The memorial will include a Kousa dogwood tree, a bench and a bronze plaque placed by Atherton Hall where Orndorff lived last fall. It is described as not only a place to remember Orndorff but as a place of closure for those involved in the accident by Emily Jones (senior-animal bioscience), one of those involved in the planning of the memorial.

"We wanted to celebrate Denise's life, so we chose to have a living memorial," said Sara Faber (senior-biology).

The dogwood and bench have already been placed in the west courtyard of Atherton Hall facing College Avenue. The plaque, however, will be unveiled at the dedication ceremony and reception that will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the College Avenue entrance of Atherton Hall.

The funds for the tree came from students and community members after several friends of Orndorff met to discuss what they wanted to do to remember her.

"We also sent letters to everyone in Simmons and Atherton Hall. We also informed the department of biology . . . We also went to area student governments and asked for funds," said Jones. "To this date, we probably have about $2,000."

The process of generating funds for the project went almost without a hitch, said Faber, adding that if there were any problems, it because the letters to request aid from students were sent a little too close to the end of the Spring Semester.

Faber described Orndorff as a woman who always had a smile on her face and was enthusiastic about life.

Elena Tzerefos, Orndorff's resident assistant during Fall Semester 1999, hopes that upon passing the memorial, something is recalled about her friend and perhaps a life lesson is learned.

"Denise was an awesome person . . . I think about her a lot especially at this time of the year," Tzerefos said. "Life is really precious. Today could be your last day and to make the most of every day."