By KAYLEE JO NEELEY, Student Reporter
Editor’s Note: The following is the first of two stories retelling the experiences Northwestern faculty and staff had on Sept. 11, 2001. Additional stories will be published in the Sept. 16 edition.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
The Northwestern News talked to three professors about their personal experiences during 9/11. Here’s what they had to say.
Dr. John Stockmyer, Professor of Business
Q: Where were you when the world stopped turning on 9/11?
A: I was in my apartment in Milford, Massachusetts, a small town about an hour to the west of Boston. It was about 9:00 a.m. I was upstairs on my computer, watching the news, and I became aware that an airplane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. I then went downstairs, turned on the TV and watched it all for the next few hours.
Q: What will you always remember about that day?
A: So many things. The planes that hit the towers were from MY airport, Boston Logan. I had recently flown out of Logan, visited New York City and had been in the towers. I learned later that a few of our business graduates (from Bentley College) had been killed in the tower collapse. I remember calling in to work to see if my school had been canceled for the day… . Only to be told by my department chair that school was NOT canceled, and that this was “no big deal” and that “this kind of thing happened in other European countries all the time.”
Q: Did you learn or realize anything about life after that day? If so, what and why?
A: I learned that I did not want to live so far away from my family. I learned that there are people who hate Americans for our beliefs, and that those people would kill all of us if they could. I learned that I cannot work for someone who has so little respect for others.
Dr. Jennifer Sattler, Associate Professor of Physics
Q: Where were you when the world stopped turning on 9/11?
A: I was in an astrophysics class at the University of North Dakota. Since nobody had a cell phone at the time, I did not find out until I was at the doctor’s office after class. They had a TV in the waiting room.
Q: What will you always remember about that day?
A: I remember how everybody came together as American and how stunned people were that it actually happened. I remember the school had a blood drive the next day to send blood to New York.
Q: Did you learn or realize anything about life after that day? If so, what and why?
A: It brought home how short life can be. There was a student in my class whose parents were supposed to be touring the World Trade Center buildings that day, and she thought she had lost them.
She heard from them later that night that they had felt sick that morning and decided to skip the tour that day. I remember her telling us to always tell people that we care about that we love them because you never know what could happen.
Olivia Yandel, Director of the J.R. Holder Wellness Center
Q: Where were you when the world stopped turning on 9/11?
A: I was in fourth grade when the Twin Towers were hit. I remember our teacher acting really weird that day at school, and they left the TVs off in our lunch room that day. At the end of the day, they told us what happened. I remember walking to my after-school babysitter, Millie’s house, afterward and re-watching the video clips on her TV. It was all in Spanish because her home was a Spanish-speaking household, but I could tell something was very wrong. My dad, who was in the military at that time and usually was the one to pick us up from daycare, was sent to Wichita to the Air Force base just in case there were more planned attacks. It was all very scary for a 9-year-old.
Q: What will you always remember about that day?
A: I think after that day, I realized how much evil is actually in our world. I was very young when the OKC bombing happened, so I don’t remember that, but I do remember thinking, “How could someone do this? How can someone be OK with taking another person’s life?”
Q: Did you learn or realize anything about life after that day? If so, what and why?
A: I remember the pride everyone had for America after that. We all came together, united to stand against evil. It’s unfortunate that a tragedy is what brings us together as a nation.
Calleb Mosburg, Dean of Student Affairs
Q: Where were you when the world stopped turning on 9/11?
A: I was sitting in an AP English class at Beaver High School when that occurred. I remember watching the news. I remember seeing the second plane – as news coverage is talking, the camera is on both towers – and I remember seeing the second plane in the background and seeing it turn and come. It eventually hit, and hearing the news reporters’ response to that.
That was always a visual that’s stuck in my mind as to what occurred. That’ll never be anything that will ever go away, seeing the buildings fall and just … the craziness that that was.
Q: What will you always remember about that day?
A: The response that took place was, I think, the piece that should have been highlighted. You don’t necessarily see every angle of that on the newscast.
But we’ve gone 20 years later, you hear the stories, and you hear the things that have gone on that have come out of such a bad situation. You see how this country could rebuild and come out of that. How families were affected by it.
Won’t ever forget that day at all. We had volunteers that were from my little small corner of the Panhandle of Oklahoma that went to New York to volunteer to help. Volunteers were showing up from every little nook and cranny across the country, and across the world, to help afterwards. It was always so impressive to remember that.
Q: Did you learn or realize anything about life after that day? If so, what and why?
A: As you go through time, knowing the connection that Oklahoma City and New York have from those tragedies that occurred… It was just something were you see people come together and help.
You saw something bring people together to move forward. You hate for those events to happen, but to see what responses come out of things like that, it’s usually a heartwarming thing to see as opposed to what we’re seeing right now.
— Editor-in-Chief Jordan Green contributed to this report.
