Tennessee Tech Army ROTC hosting its annual Memorial Stair Climb this week to honor the victims and first responders of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Professor of Military Science Benjamin Sweeney said the event serves as a tribute to the people who lost their lives during the 2001 attacks. Sweeney said the climb is designed to simulate the height of the World Trade Center towers by having participants navigate more than 3,000 stairs.
“The stair climb is done at programs and locations around the country just to kind of pay tribute to those first responders that responded this year now 25 years ago on September 11th when the country lost 2,977 people,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said the program uses the event to educate younger cadets who were not yet born in 2001 about how the military and civilian life changed after that day. Sweeney said the ROTC department displays 30 pages of printed names representing every individual lost in the attacks to provide a tangible perspective on the scale of the tragedy.
“September 11th’s the reason I joined the army, so I’ve been in almost 25 years and I do think it’s important because where a lot of us that were alive and and able to remember September 11th, we can remember the very time, place, location that we first heard it and so for these young men and women who maybe weren’t alive, specifically talking about my cadets, the army that they’re stepping out into when they’re done at Tennessee Tech was shaped and altered after that that fateful day,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said the ROTC cadets complete the climb while wearing rucksacks weighing between 35 and 45 pounds to simulate the heavy equipment carried by firefighters. Sweeney said the challenge consists of eight laps around the east side of Tucker Stadium and is open to participants of all physical ability levels.
“I do think it kind of gives some some neat perspective and we’ve got veterans that come from all around the surrounding community and first responders and so I do think it makes it a little more special when they see all these different people. We talk to the cadets about maybe how their parents reflected on it and what they did so I do think the physical experience definitely helps drive home the the sacrifice of those on that day,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney said the event is open to the entire Upper Cumberland community and is being held on a Saturday this year to allow more families and children to attend. Sweeney said the climb is a self-paced activity where community members can do as much or as little as they choose.
“I just encourage really anybody that wants to come. It’s a a fun event, people we have from adults to kids and different things. I’ll actually have my whole family out there. It’s one of the reasons we’re doing it this year on Saturday instead of Friday, so I just encourage anybody that wants to come out, remember how our country was forever changed 25 years ago,” Sweeney said.
