As the date of 9/11 approaches each year, it is important to remember and honor the lives we lost on this date in 2001. While we all cope with loss differently, a good way to pay our tributes is to recognize and talk about these types of events. Discussing helps to educate newer generations to fully understand and process this event.
In order to remember, we have traditions in Charlottesville and at our own Charlottesville High School that help those that experienced the terrorist attacks to pass the stories and memories along to the younger generations.
One of the most influential events hosted in Charlottesville is the Annual Stair Climb. This event takes place every year on September 11 in the John Paul Jones Arena. Firefighters from the Charlottesville and Albemarle County fire departments gathered in the arena to climb all 2,200 steps (equivalent to 110 stories) first responders ascended on that day. “Each step we take on the 11th is a tribute to the courage of those who acted without hesitation that day. We carry their memory upward, step by step, in recognition of their sacrifice, bravery, and service,” said CFD Chief Michael Thomas in an interview with CBS 19 News. Some of the first responders choose to wear their full firefighter uniforms, while others choose to bear significant amounts of weight to represent what first responders had to do during the real event. The event is not a race and is not timed. During the Stair Climb, several periods throughout the event are taken as a moment of silence to represent significant moments during the attacks. The purpose of the Stair Climb is to “serve as a living memorial to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11,” said ACFR Chief Dan Eggleston in an interview with CBS 19 News. “It’s a way for us, as a community, to come together in their honor and ensure that their sacrifice continues to be remembered.”
At CHS, some of our teachers take time in their class to share their own experiences on 9/11. By doing this, they are remembering the date and encouraging students to think deeper into the topic than just what we read in history books. It allows students to connect to the events by hearing about stories from the day of the attacks.
In her ninth grade English class, Ms. Pierce tells her story about 9/11. “I was a teacher here at Charlottesville High School, and we were watching the events unfold on that day in real time. It was a scary time. Students were very distraught[…]I remember feeling like it was the start of a new world for the United States.” In class, Ms. Pierce and her students addressed the topic and opened up to any feelings by reading and annotating a poem entitled “Photograph from September 11,” written by Wislawa Szymborska. The poem describes a photograph taken of people jumping from the towers. Although this is a difficult topic to think of, by discussing and visualizing the events we can honor the lives lost in our own way.
Another teacher with a powerful story to tell is Mr. Mace. “There was a lot of bad information going on. I remember distinctly a student running down the hallway screaming ‘the Capitol has been destroyed.’ There was just no one who knew what was going on.” Mr. Mace and his students at West Potomac High School were just miles away from the pentagon. “We watched it in real time, we watched the second plane hit, and that was[…]horrifying to say the least.”
A final way that Charlottesville remembers 9/11 is by opening the Charlottesville Fire Department’s Fontaine Fire Station 10 to the public. This Fire Department houses a memorial which includes a large piece of World Trade Center steel, an artifact from the Pentagon, and a stone from the Shanksville, PA crash site of Flight 93. The Fire Department was open to the public from 10-2, inviting the public to enjoy the memorial and offer a quiet reflection.
