By MATT PIKE
Northwest Missouri State University is commemorating lives lost during the tragic events that transpired in New York City on September 11th with its annual stair climb.
Northwest’s Emergency and Disaster Management Club, the 1-129th Field Artillery of the Missouri National Guard and the Maryville Fire Department are partnering in support of the event. The Maryville Fire Department will start the event with a bell ceremony and a moment of silenc
The stair climb will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, at Bearcat Stadium. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees must sign a waiver to participate in the 2,071-step challenge, which may be completed individually or in groups of two to five people. Participants can register at Bearcat Stadium on the evening of the event.
Travis Surprise, an instructor of emergency and disaster management at Northwest, is serving as this year’s master of ceremonies and helping to organize the event.
“The value of this event is to learn our history, so it’s never repeated,” Surprise says in a news release from the University. “We learn why 9/11 is so important and understand the physical exertion that was needed that day to save the lives they were able to save. We can teach the younger generation what happened that day and what came from those terrorist actions.”
The Memorial Bell Tower, located at the center of the Northwest campus, will chime at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m., 9:37 a.m. and 10:03 a.m., marking the times that each of the four planes crashed on 9/11. Additionally, Northwest will play footage of the events of 9/11 on the Bearcat Stadium video board.