On the one-year anniversary of 9/11, Zurich in North America established the K.A.M.P award as a living legacy to the colleagues lost that day: John Keohane, Peggy Alario, Kathy Moran and Lud Picarro. "K.A.M.P.," an acronym for their last names, also carries a reminder to all employees to "Keep A Meaningful Perspective." The award is considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon an employee at Zurich. On September 17, for the fourth consecutive year, the Tribute Center hosted the K.A.M.P. award ceremony.

 

Since its inception in 2002, the K.A.M.P. award has been presented to 53 employees from offices across the United States who are courageous in spirit, passionate about their work, demonstrate commitment to community and lead and motivate others. Nominations for the K.A.M.P. award are accepted in July from colleagues, and five winners are then chosen annually by former winners and senior leaders.

 

Headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, Zurich North America brings winners of the K.A.M.P. Awards to New York for three days. During the visit, K.A.M.P. award winners, along with past winners, visit the 9/11 Tribute Center, participate in a service activity, and attend an award ceremony to celebrate the lives of their lost colleagues.

 

The K.A.M.P. award honors the memories of John Keohane, Peggy Alario, Kathy Moran and Lud Picarro by inspiring others to make a difference. An important aspect of the K.A.M.P. award is giving back to the city of New York. Past winners have participated in a variety of service projects including serving meals to the homeless, assembling disaster preparedness kits, planting 9/11 remembrance daffodils in Foley Square and participating in a career panel for students at the High School for Leadership and Public Service.

 

"We greatly value our relationship with Tribute," said Jillian Walsh, director of Community Investment for Zurich North America.  "The ceremony featuring KAMP alumni and the new slate of winners in Gallery 5 is the highlight of the KAMP Award winners' week in NYC. Winners past and present find great meaning in hearing from Lee Ielpi and Jennifer Adams and reflecting on their message of peace and education. After the KAMP Awards have been presented, the Center has provided KAMP alumni and Tribute Center enthusiasts with volunteer opportunities to give back to military families on the National Day of Service and catalog and translate visitor cards as a part of Zurich's Global Community Week. We hope these opportunities to serve and remember continue to keep the memory of John, Peggy, Kathy and Lud's legacies alive.

 

 

 

On September 30, Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn talked about the writing of 102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, their history of what was happening inside the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001.

 

The program was held in 7 World Trade Center to accommodate the large audience which included neighborhood residents and many volunteer tour guides from the 9/11 Tribute Center.  "This book is similar to our tour guide program in that it presents multiple perspectives on September 11th, in the same way that our tour guides tell personal stories that reflect many different experiences of the day's events," commented Meriam Lobel in introducing the authors.

 

The authors spoke informally about their motivation to write the book and their research processes. They were both working at The New York Times on September 11, 2001.  Like many other people in the metropolitan region, they lost friends in the attacks.

 

Jim cited poet Sean O'Fallon's quote, "Memory is a ghost telling lies," as an inspiration for writing the book. Jim said they wanted to write a book to "protect the moment from the liquefaction of memory."

 

Kevin talked about speaking with some of the families who wanted to recount the stories of what happened to their loved ones, and speaking with survivors who were able to recall their experiences with other people in the building that morning.

 

On the morning of September 11, 2001, The New York Times asked all of their employees working tat day, whether they were reporters or not, to record the stories they were hearing from survivors who called the paper. The stories were put into a databank. Some of the material in the book was developed from this databank. Additional material was obtained from the oral histories collected by the FDNY and the NYPD, the Port Authority repeater tapes from the South Tower, Blackberry messages, cell phone messages and the Fire Department radio transmissions.

 

The authors compiled the stories they heard with the help of this technology.  They were also grateful to their editor, whom they called the "unsung hero" of the production of the book.

 

At the end of the talk they thanked the 9/11 Tribute Center and its volunteer guides for helping New Yorkers process this day, and remember.

 

 

Seniors from Jonathan Law High School each expressed what they had learned from the 9/11 Curriculum.  "It's touching to hear the good that's out there in the midst of all of the terrible things going on in the world," commented Rebecca.

 

Rachel Rowley and Mary Mannion, social studies teachers in Milford, Connecticut, took Lee Ielpi's 10th anniversary letter to teachers as a call to action.  In his letter, Lee expressed his dismay that no state in the country had a curriculum in place to teach the history of September 11.  He wrote, "Teachers in the U.S. and around the world have the opportunity to guide our young people to realize local and global avenues for change."  Ms. Rowley and Ms. Mannion decided that they would work in their community to develop concrete lessons that addressed the history of the attacks and its outcomes.

 

Aiming to do something significant, they talked with other district teachers and realized that they could work together to develop a scaffolded curriculum that would build year after year for every student in grades 6-12. The district administration, from Superintendent Dr. Feser to Jonathan Law High School Principal Fran Thompson supported their efforts and gave the teachers the go-ahead to develop this project.  Mayor Benjamin Blake has also been very supportive in recognizing the project's importance to the community.

 

The curriculum, We Will Never Forget, was officially given to the 9/11 Tribute Center at a school presentation on October 15.  The lessons begin with 6th graders being given the assignment to conduct an oral history with an adult about their memory of 9/11.  "We thought it would be a good idea for the

Connecticut Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor, shown seated next to Milford Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Feser, praised the teachers for creating lessons that show the wisdom we have gained from 9/11.  He added that he would like to start a state-wide effort to create a 9/11 curriculum in other districts.

conversation to begin at home," commented teacher Melissa Rossi.  "Many parents came to me during the open house and said they appreciated the opportunity to talk about this difficult topic with their children."

 

In a 7th grade World Geography class the students study terrorism, looking first at religiously motivated terrorism. "We have students who have come from other parts of the world where they were affected by terrorism," teacher Cordelia Isiofia explained.  "They are ready to learn about this." Eighth grade U.S. History students learn the historical facts of the day through a multimedia timeline, and through first-person accounts by visiting speakers.  11th grade students in AP Government/Civics look at the domestic response and are asked to compare and contrast the Bill of Rights with provisions of the PATRIOT Act.  In a 12th grade social studies elective, students explore the Civilian Response to 9/11 and develop their own action project. "Ultimately we hope 9/11 will be a student-driven project that they will develop after having gone through 6 years of this curriculum," stated Ms. Mannion.

 

"This year's seniors are the last students who were in school on 9/11.  Every class after them will have entered the system in a post-9/11 world," said Mrs. Rowley.  "In our curriculum the students learn that in response to 9/11, individuals created projects that bond people together. We held a day-long 9/11 event in the school this September that became the town of Milford's commemoration for the day."  The high school seniors added that this event brought the whole school together in a deeply meaningful way like nothing else had before.

 

As kids are getting settled into their new school routines, the 9/11 Tribute Center is also settling in, and looking forward to a year of serving students with meaningful, dynamic programs. This year we intend to serve about 15,000 students. At least one-third of these students will spend a half-hour in a memorable one-to-one conversation with our guides. The bookings so far have been exceptionally strong. 

 

The education section of our website, tributewtc.org, has been reorganized so that it's easier to navigate. An advisory group, consisting of docents who are also professional teachers, has guided the development of new materials and training sessions to enhance the quality and consistency of dialogue between students and guides. At the same time we are planning an entirely new website for next year that is viewable on a mobile device..

 

An exciting autumn initiative is our new "video chat" program, allowing personal dialogue between our docents and classrooms across the country, even perhaps other countries. The 9/11 Tribute Center is working with the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration to help reach out across the nation to promote this new program.

 

Since school began this fall, weekly over 470 visitors have used our free online classroom toolkit, "September 11th Personal Stories of Transformation." This winter we will be producing a new online set of materials for teachers (and everyone else too), that reveals the experiences of five exemplary teachers, their challenges and triumphs in teaching and learning about September 11. Each teacher's story will be accompanied by some of their lesson plans and resources that they used.

 

The 9/11 Tribute Center is once again actively collecting nominations for our Teacher Award Program. Winners will be selected at the end of January. So please pass the word around to teachers that should nominate their 9/11 class project. On Monday, October 28, from 5 - 7 PM, we will host an after-school Educator Open House with a special activity planned for teachers. All teachers are welcome. RSVP is required, email education@tributewtc.org.     

 

 

 

 

On this year's 12th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, the 9/11 Tribute Center was visited by more than 2,000 family members.  The streets around the 9/11 Memorial were closed to the general public, and only family members and first responders had access to Liberty Street during the morning's ceremonies. Most families came to Tribute after attending the reading of names on the 9/11 Memorial that morning.  Many brought school-aged children with them and they carefully explained the events of the day as they walked through the galleries.  

 

Most families who visited were from the United States, but several families visit from other countries. One family who comes to the 9/11 Tribute Center every year came all the way from Japan.  Our volunteer tour guides and staff members greeted the families.