The 25-year anniversary of 9/11 prompts a reflection for a generation who wasn’t present

To students today, the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, are an inherited memory. We did not live through the tragedy of that day, but we have seen the ramifications. This Friday marks 25 years since the terrorist attacks that changed our nation and a generation that never experienced them firsthand now has the responsibility of remembering them.

On that day, four commercial airplanes were hijacked: two were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. and a fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Penn. Of the almost 3,000 casualties from that day, none affected the CSB+SJU communities more than that of Tom Burnett Jr.

“There was a Johnnie alum on one of the planes which made it that much more personal,” CSB+SJU professor Amanda Jantzer said. A former Johnnie football player, Burnett was one of the brave 44 men and women that stepped up to prevent the hijackers on the fourth plane, Flight 93, from reaching their final target in Washington, D.C. A news article from the Sept. 20, 2021, issue of The Record written by Eileen Otto, CSB ‘24, quotes a phone call Burnett made to his wife moments before the plane went down.

“We have to do something. We can’t wait for the authorities. It’s up to us. I think we can do it,” Burnett said.

Our generation and all future generations will remember 9/11 through documentaries, videos, history books and stories from the people who lived through it. Jake Jantzer, now a sociology and gender studies professor for the institutions, was a sophomore at SJU during the attack on our nation’s capitals.

“I remember waking up later in the morning around 9:30-10:00,” Jake Jantzer said. “One of my friends came over with a disturbed look on his face telling me the news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.”

Students on our campus 25 years ago watched the news unfold from the same classrooms, residence halls and other spaces we use every day. Amanda Jantzer, now a CSB+SJU psychology professor, was a CSB sophomore in calculus class when the attack started.

“My professor just continued with the lesson, at the time we didn’t realize it was a terrorist attack,” Amanda Jantzer said. “I then went to Sexton and there were so many students watching the events in Brother Willie’s Pub on the TV. Everyone was silent.”

The Record published its own ‘Our View’ just a few days later, searching for stability during a time when no one knew what would come next.

“We must commend the quick and compassionate response of the schools and the monastic communities.”At CSB/SJU, as around the country, people took time to reflect, pray, and grieve. Within a few hours of the attack, they set up prayer service on both campuses and made television coverage available to students in multiple locations on campus,” wrote The Record staff in the Our View from the Sept. 13, 2001, edition.

The CSB+SJU community has kept up a tradition of yearly remembrance including special commemorative events on the 10- and 20-year anniversaries.

“CSB/SJU are taking part in events to remember the victims of 9/11. On Saturday, CSB Campus Ministry is sponsoring a sign holding in St. Cloud,” Drake Ousterhout wrote in a news article for the Sept. 9, 2011, edition of The Record.

“Campus groups honored the victims of 9/11 by placing 2, 996 flags in the lawn outside the Quad, climbing 110 flights of stairs and remembering former Johnnie football player Tom Burnett Jr.,” read the chatter for a news article in the Sept. 20, 2021, edition of The Record.

Now, the burden falls to us. What does it mean to “Never Forget”? Our campuses are honoring the fallen in more than a few ways.

The Fighting Saints Battalion, CSB+SJU’s arm of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, will host their annual stair climb in Clemens Stadium at 4 p.m. where participants climb 110 flights of stairs in solidarity with first responders present at the 9/11 attacks.

“We are honoring the fire fighters and first responders during the 9/11 attack. It is a moment of reflection, that helps us remember the people who lost their lives,” said Sadie LeBlanc, CSB senior and ROTC Cadet Sergeant Major. “I remember the St. Joe firefighters coming in previous years and seeing them show up in their full gear and they do it with us. We have our rucks on that have a weight of 35 pounds.”

The McCarthy Center is hosting Politics and a Pint event on Friday, Sept. 11 to remember the anniversary. Professors on campus will lead a discussion on the impacts 9/11 had.

“There were many psychological reactions to 9/11 – what is going to happen next, people were worried for their families,” Amanda Jantzer said. “I had a friend who was struggling before 9/11 and ultimately ended up dropping out after 9/11 because of the emotional toll.”

“Once I wasn’t worried about being drafted, I felt worried about the social issues that were stemming from the attack especially towards Islamic people,” Jake Jantzer said. “Not dissimilar to having ICE here, you don’t know when it is going to stop but being a white male in the Midwest, I’m not as affected.”

Whether you are participating in these events or not, we implore you to reach out to those in the generations before you. Ask your parents and grandparents: Where were you? And when they tell their story, listen.

“It’s hard to believe it was that long ago. It was an immense tragedy, not only that day but what resulted from it,” Jake Jantzer said. As our world becomes increasingly self-centered, focusing on the here and now, we should look back and reflect on how historical events have affected our world today.

“When I first got students who I realized didn’t live through 9/11, it was surreal to me,” Amanda Jantzer said. “We sometimes don’t always see where things come from.”