Medical Academy Students, Teacher Conduct Stair Challenge in Honor of 9/11

Tragedy struck on Sept. 11, 2001 as the World Trade Center in New York was struck by two hijacked planes taking a total 2,997 lives. Of those lives claimed, 343 were firefighters attempting to save those trapped inside. 

To get to the to the enclosed civilians, firefighters had to climb a total 110 flights of stairs as the elevators were out of service. Today, we honor those who laid down their lives by climbing that same 110 flights 18 years later. Medical academy teacher Kim Goins and her students recreated the challenge by climbing an accumulative 771 flights of stairs to show their appreciation for those firefighters.

“My students and I did a portion of the stair challenge to honor those firefighters,” Goins said. “I could not imagine how these firefighters went up 110 flights in those conditions.”

The firefighters wore 45-pounds of gear as they climbed up the burning building with no ventilation. Even without that gear, climbing that amount of steps proved to be a challenge according to junior Bailey Abernathy.

“We started out very pumped up and ready to go like this was a fairly easy feat,” Bailey said. “We were seven minutes in and it started to become a struggle. People were tired and once we checked each other’s heart rate and blood pressure,we found everyone’s jumped extraordinarily.”

Goins said what firefighters did was truly an act of bravery and selflessness as they gave their lives so that others may live. 

“As these firefighters may be long gone, they will never be forgotten from that fateful day,” she said.