FARMINGTON — Moved by the news of slain students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., University of Maine at Farmington junior Maileny Guillen felt she needed to do something.

Guillen came up with the idea of creating a memorial while looking at photos.

“We were shopping and she started buying flowers,” said her twin sister,  Mercedes, a freshman at UMF. “I thought she was just going to put flowers around but then she bought balloons.”

After Mercedes and a couple friends blew up the balloons, Maileny decided to tie the balloons to a tree on the green outside Mantor Library, creating a memorial to the 26 students and teachers who died last week.

The young women wrote the name of each victim, their age and birth date on a balloon before putting it up, she said.

They tried to make the balloons look like ornaments hanging on a Christmas tree, she said.

“It’s so close to Christmas. These families won’t have a Christmas. They’ve lost their babies,” Maileny said.

So many people have seen photos on Facebook and responded. She hopes it will eventually make it to the Connecticut families and help them know everyone cares, she said.

She woke last Friday to see the news on Facebook and couldn’t stop crying, she said. Doing something, even here in Farmington, helped her feel better, she said.

The Guillens are from New York City. Her drama coach went to the school, Maileny said.

She was moved by the way these teachers stood up for their students, she said.

Both said the effort helped them feel better, although it’s still hard to understand.

They plan to leave the memorial up as they finish finals and head home for their own Christmas.

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