JROTC Cadets Honor 9/11 With Stair Climb
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) – Cleveland High School’s JROTC cadets held a solemn remembrance this morning for the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
At 9 a.m., cadets gathered at Benny Monroe Stadium and climbed 2,200 steps on the visitor-side bleachers.
Jeff Elliott, Director of Cleveland City Schools, spoke on behalf of the event stating that “it’s quite the honor to be able to have that opportunity, as a school system, to remember of what our firefighters, what our first responders, and police department did in New York City, but how it resonated across the United States and the world.”
That distance represents 110 flights of stairs, the equivalent height of the World Trade Center towers.
The number 110 carries historic meaning.
On September 11, 2001, first responders in New York climbed those same 110 flights in an effort to rescue people trapped inside the Twin Towers.
Many never made it back down, and their climb has become one of the most enduring symbols of courage from that day.
By completing the stair climb, Cleveland High’s cadets connected with the scale of that challenge more than two decades later.
When asked about his experience with 9/11/01, Chris Berney, JROTC Master Sergeant, told News 12 that “for me, I was a traditional guardsman in the National Guard and so I was working actually at airport Cadillac at that time and so yes, it was kind of an eerie day. When I heard about it, all the planes had to land and so working at, you know, at that time, you always heard planes landing and taking off and it was, you know, it was totally quiet that day, so it was kind of eerie.”
The event provided both students and the community with a way to reflect on the lives lost and the impact of September 11th.
News 12 spoke with Grant Hargett, JROTC Lead Cadet, who had this to say “If there are lives in danger, there would be people. There are always people that will go there and help, and some people, they don’t see it until the full extent of what they’re doing cause all those first responders had their full gear on, they had they had those big heavy oxygen tanks that are full of turnout gear, and just really that’s a lot of weight. What we did wasn’t fully that, but there were still a lot of Cadets there struggling with it. It really shows how hard that was for them.”
The stair climb at Benny Monroe Stadium is one of many remembrance activities across the country marking the 24th anniversary of the attacks.
