Benjamin Community Commemorates 9/11 With Joint Assemblies

The Benjamin middle and upper school communities gathered this week for assemblies commemorating the anniversary of September 11, 2001.

The upper school program featured a powerful video produced by student Betsy Farmer, who interviewed members of the Benjamin faculty and staff about where they were on the morning of the attacks. For many, the memories remain vivid.

One member of the school’s security team recalled working in a correctional facility just across the river from Manhattan. 

“It came up on the TV screens in the unit and the control center came on right away saying lock everyone in, so we had to lock the entire facility down, get everyone in their cells, cancel any type of visitation,” he recounted. “After my unit was secured I walked across the hallway and that’s where you could see the skyline of Manhattan … you could see the plume of smoke coming down and if you looked all the way to the left I could actually see the buildings burning.”

Upper school World Language teacher Ms. Obando Cevallos shared how the tragedy deepened her connection to the country. 

“One of the things that has stuck with me is that I was not a U.S. citizen at that moment, I was a permanent resident, a green card holder. It made me even more determined to become a citizen as soon as I was able to … I was really proud to be in this country, I was really proud to be an American. It just pulled us together. I remember the American flag became that symbol of patriotism and togetherness and love and hope,” she said. 

Upper school Dean of Students Andy Curtis spoke to the assembly about the importance of carrying the memory and lesson of 9/11 forward. 

“And now this day has become part of our collective consciousness in ways that transcend place and direct experience,” he read. “Even here at Benjamin, removed from that fall day in 2001, we carry tangible reminders of how these events touched our community. Our Lindsay Morehouse Tennis Center stands as a memorial to a member of our community who was lost and serves as a permanent marker that connects us to that larger story. Geography provides no barrier to the reach of the shared human experience. The ripples of that day continue to shape the world you navigate and include conversations about service and sacrifice that inform your civic life,” Curtis said, recognizing Morehouse who was killed during the attack on the World Trade Center along with fellow alumnus Patrick Aranyos. 

Curtis’s message urged students to embrace the responsibility of remembrance. 

“We must be actively engaged in a more peaceful presence,” the audience was reminded. “We mark occasions like this for a fundamentally human reason — they remind us of both the permanence of events and the impermanence of our memories.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE ENTIRE UPPER SCHOOL ASSEMBLY