It happened completely by chance; On the same day the University of Maryland was set to hold a ceremony honoring the victims of the Capital Gazette shooting with a plaque in its journalism school, Time Magazine declared the paper’s staff among its “Persons of the Year.”

“It was very uplifting, especially on this day,” said Dana Winters Rengers — the sister of Wendi Winters, one of the victims.

[Read more: Following the Capital Gazette shooting and its impact on the UMD community]

More than 50 people gathered on the third floor of Knight Hall Tuesday, as the journalism school unveiled a memorial for the five people killed in the shooting, their names and photographs etched onto a gleaming black plaque on the walls of the newly designated Capital Gazette Memorial Seminar Room.

The ceremony itself lasted about a half-hour and featured a variety of speakers. Merrill College dean Lucy Dalglish spoke, along with the editor of the Capital Gazette, Rick Hutzell; Geoff Gonella, chair of the the university Foundation’s board; Trif Alatzas, the publisher of the Baltimore Sun, which owns the Capital Gazette; and family members of the deceased.

Two of the victims of the June shooting — Gerald Fischman and John McNamara — were University of Maryland alumni. A third victim, Rob Hiaasen, was an adjunct journalism lecturer at the university.

“Devastating. Heartbreaking. Total shock. Every adjective you could use.” said Marty Padden, advertising director at the Capital Gazette, who said he was in disbelief when he heard the news of the shooting that killed five of his colleagues.

Padden, who has been at the paper for over nine years, worked closely with Rebecca Smith, among those killed in the newsroom on June 28.

The close bond between the Annapolis-based paper and the university was stressed throughout the journalism school’s ceremony, co-hosted with The Diamondback.

“The University of Maryland wants our friends and colleagues in Annapolis to know that they will always be close to our hearts. And we hope you look to us for support and always feel welcome in Knight Hall,” said Lucy Dalglish, dean of the journalism school.

[Read more: UMD will open a center for investigative journalism in 2019]

In the days after the shooting, the journalism school opened up the headquarters of its Capital News Service bureau in Annapolis to the Capital’s staff as they continued to put out their newspaper in the wake of tragedy.

Several journalism faculty members also volunteered at the Capital Gazette and at the Baltimore Sun in the months following the massacre.

In addition to the journalism school’s memorial, the athletics department also dedicated press seats in Maryland Stadium and the Xfinity Center to McNamara, a sportswriter who began his career covering the university’s teams.

A moment of silence was observed prior to tip-off of the Terrapins men’s basketball game Tuesday night, against the Loyola Greyhounds, to honor those lost in the shooting.

Gonella referred to the five victims — McNamara, Hiaasen and Fischman specifically — as, “a group of people who will forever be in our hearts and will forever be Terps.”

Andrea Chamblee, the widow of McNamara, and Maria Hiaasen, the widow of Rob Hiaasen, both gave impassioned speeches on gun violence and the difficulty of losing a loved one.

Another theme throughout the evening was the power and importance of journalism.

“They are all important figures in the history of community journalism,” Hutzell said, of the victims. “I would ask you to remember them and remember what they died for… they worked in journalism.”

Erica Fischman, the widow of Gerald Fischman, held back tears, saying of her husband, “His parents wanted him to be a lawyer, but he followed his childhood dream and became a journalist.”

Hutzell stressed that the day was about the victims.

“We’ve been praised for keeping publishing,” he said. “Of course we keep publishing. My friends would be proud that we kept doing that.”