9/11 Twenty Years Later

Special Topic Update from Head of School Chris Ongaro

While I am inspired by our start to the year, I am also aware of the context, notably including an ongoing pandemic and a 20-year remembrance of 9/11. For us adults, tomorrow marks twenty years since we experienced a horrid attack on home soil and were forced to confront vulnerabilities unlike ever before. Tomorrow also marks twenty years from when our attacked nation rapidly developed a new resolve. While the nation developed its sense of support for each other, it was New Yorkers who led the way in many ways--bravely running into danger for a chance to save others and resiliently pushing forward while surrounded by loss. Such is the context familiar to all of us reading this.

For our students and children, the 9/11 events of twenty years ago are limited to history without being a memory. We know, though, that they have faced other major events. Although their sense of the Great Recession of 2008 or of Hurricane Sandy's destruction may be mixed, all of our students are aware of their immediate context with such things as intense climate concerns, the national reckoning on race, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The great atrocity of 9/11 was the tremendous loss faced by so, so many families, friends, coworkers, and neighbors; and the great offering in the 9/11 aftermath is the reminder of how so many of our community members are willing to jump into action to help one another. Twenty years later, our students and children are confronting transformative national and global events that force them to now confront vulnerabilities unlike ever before. Doing so will be difficult. It will add a layer of uncertainty to many previously common activities. As their sense of normal life is disrupted, so, too, will be their vision of the future. While 9/11 is a point of mourning for our nation, let us also hold tightly to the reminder that each of us can not only choose to persist amid challenges but also that we can do so knowing many in our community want to support each other's well-being. Here for our children and students in New York City, let that message of resolve and support mark our twenty-year remembrance of 9/11.

Be well,

Chris Ongaro