Memorial for UW-Madison student

The UW-Madison campus comes together to say goodbye to a classmate.

Neha Suri passed away this week, after a battle with bacterial meningitis. The campus held a memorial service for Suri Wednesday afternoon to honor her. Friends, students and colleagues packed the Virginia Harrison Parlor in Lathrop Hall to say good bye to Neha Suri.

Her family talked about what they did with her while she was in the hospital, like reading to her, and what she meant to them.
 

" You put a hundred percent into what ever you ever do. Going to Madison from Singapore wasn't easy to leave your friends and family and especially your mom."

Before reading, her cousin fought back tears and asked the audience to smile more to help her get through the reading.
 

" Smiles are good like Neha's so please smile to get me through this."

But, for every smile that was had, a tear was shed. Some tried to fight crying, others didn't hold back. Four of Suri's friends honored her memory with a song.

But friends and family weren't the only ones touched by the 22-year-old. Faculty and staff that encountered Suri also spoke about how she touched them.

" No matter what was going on, she was very close to smiling or... and it really put into perspective what's important."

After he was done speaking, Suri's former professor presented her mother with some of the work she'd done in his class.

At the memorial service we also learned how proud Suri was to be a Badger. So instead of ending the service with a moment of silence or a prayer, all in the room linked arms and sang "Varsity" to Suri's family.

Suri was double majoring in journalism and political science. Both departments will offer scholarships in her memory.