More than 400 climb Memorial Stadium steps to remember 9/11

Darren Barile was supposed to be at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

He was 3-and-a-half years old, traveling with family from Connecticut to visit his grandparents in New York City. They were headed to the towers that morning to shop, but were running late. The delay kept them from reaching Manhattan.

Twenty-five years later, Barile climbed the steps of Memorial Stadium, retracing the ascent faced by firefighters and other first responders who entered the World Trade Center that morning. He was one of more than 400 people who gathered before sunrise Friday for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb.

The U.S. Army captain, now a second-year student in the University of Nebraska College of Law preparing to serve in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, carried memories of a day he was too young to fully understand — and a reason to keep climbing.

“I think just as a soldier and just as people, I think it’s good for us to do these things to remember it,” Barile said.

The climb began shortly after 5:30 a.m.

Participants moved up and down all four sides of Memorial Stadium, forming long lines that snaked along concrete steps. Some carried flags. First responders in bunker gear. Shoes striking stairs. People breathing heavily. Some talking quietly. Others climbing in silence.

At random moments, a single voice breaking the heavy morning air with a “Go Big Red” chant.

For the 25th anniversary, participants sought to replicate the 2,071 steps — more than 110 flights — that first responders faced as they climbed into the World Trade Center towers.

Joe Brownell, executive director of Nebraska’s Military and Veteran Success Center and a retired U.S. Air Force veteran, gathered participants on the field before they began.

He reminded the group about that day 25 years ago, that 2,977 people from more than 90 nations died, including more than 400 first responders.

"The tradition is the firefighters that went up, and numerous firefighters knew they weren't coming down," Brownell said. "They did over 2,000 steps, 2,071 is the number, over 110 flights. Today, if you take one step, you're showing that you remember, you're never going to forget."

As they prepared to go, Brownell asked participants to pay attention to the people making the climb beside them.

Stay together, he said. If someone needed a break, stop. If someone was struggling, help them.

“Look at the people next to you and do this together,” Brownell said. “It’s part of being a team. It’s part of what we do and why we do this today."

Then, they climbed.

The expanded turnout was part of a broader university effort to turn 9/11 remembrance into a month of service.

Andrew Brown, assistant director of community engagement with Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement, helped secure a 9/11 Day and AmeriCorps grant that expanded participation in the stair climb and created additional service opportunities throughout September.

More than 115 students and staff members without ties to the university’s ROTC programs signed up through the effort, more than twice the roughly 50 participants initially expected. About 250 members of Nebraska’s ROTC programs also participated. The remaining climbers were first responders and other members of the broader community. Overall, it was the largest group to participate in the annual event.

“It’s really nice to see more students and faculty and staff that came out today to kind of remember the events that occurred and kind of honor those who helped on that day,” Brown said.

The climb itself was only part of the morning.

Along the West Stadium stands, Army ROTC cadets gathered in formation as another kind of commitment took place.

Before the climb, Lt. Col. Thomas Slykhuis, a professor of military science and leader of the university’s Army ROTC program, told the cadets about where he was Sept. 11, 2001.

Then a college sophomore at the University of Northern Iowa, Slykhuis was in his dorm room and preparing for morning ROTC drills when he learned the towers had been hit.

He assumed the attacks would cut the morning training short.

They did not.

At the time, he thought he would leave ROTC and go fight.

His leaders told him his day would come — the same message he told cadets ahead of the climb.

The responsibility, he told the cadets, was to be ready — to continue the journey, build grit, remember the past and prepare for success.

Then, Slykhuis turned to Cadet Addison Nunley.

The junior animal science major from Omaha stood facing him on the field, her right hand raised as she took the oath committing herself to military service.

The rest of the cadet corps stood in formation nearby. Two cadets held an American flag.

Nunley repeated the words of the oath, formally committing to military service after college.

She had not been sure she would join ROTC when she arrived at Nebraska. A friend told her about the Army’s veterinary program, work which includes caring for military working dogs. All four of her grandparents had served, too.

The combination gave her the push she needed.

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She was born after the attacks but grew up hearing people talk about where they were that morning. Those stories along with wanting to serve led her to ask to hold her contracting ceremony on Sept. 11.

“I guess I wanted to still feel a part of everything in a bigger way,” she said.

When the ceremony ended, Slykhuis and the cadets were dismissed to begin the climb.

Nunley completed 23 trips from the base of the West Stadium stands to the top, totaling more than 2,200 stairs.

As the climb wore on, the physical challenge became more apparent. So did the people around her.

“It’s really nice to be able to have everyone coming up behind you and like pushing you in a way that makes you really motivated to keep going,” Nunley said.

For Bryan Kinnan, an information technology coordinator with the IANR Finance and Personnel Office, the first trip up the stadium stairs was easy.

“After that, you’re struggling,” Kinnan said.

Kinnan had never participated in a memorial stair climb before Friday. He came to remember those who lost their lives and to support the people who continue to put themselves at risk for others.

“I think today is a way to support those who risk their lives every day,” he said.

Nick Glass made the climb with a different connection to first responders.

A research building systems project manager with the Office of Research and Innovation, Glass is a volunteer firefighter in Garland.

In previous years, Glass had noticed the lights in Memorial Stadium lit up on Sept. 11 mornings. He read stories about the stair climb and wanted to participate. This year, he found the information and signed up.

Glass remembers little of Sept. 11. He was in third grade at the time. He can recall the shock and watching televisions in classrooms as teachers and students tried to understand what was happening.

He said he would never forget climbing the stadium steps alongside hundreds of people who had their own connections to the day.

“It just felt like it was a good environment to be around,” he said. “It was cool being around everybody else who wanted to share that same excitement for remembering.”

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Crystal Ayala came to the climb from a generation that knows Sept. 11 through the people who remember it.

A first-year student from Rockford, Illinois, Ayala was not alive when the attacks happened.

She has learned about Sept. 11 from her parents, from history classes and through her own interest in the subject. A biochemistry major on the pre-medicine track, she said first responders and members of the military hold particular significance for her. Her grandfather served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

Friday was her first stair climb. She hoped participants would leave with a greater appreciation for the people who work on the front lines to protect others.

“I just really hope that ... not just me, but everyone else here is able to take away that there are so many people who do so much for this country,” she said.

Barile had been too young to understand what was happening, but he remembers flashes of the chaos. His family’s story — and the knowledge that they were supposed to be in New York that morning — has stayed with him.

His own internal desire to serve eventually led him to military service.

Barile attended the Virginia Military Institute and joined the Army as an armor officer, serving with tank units. He later transitioned toward law and was selected for an Army scholarship to attend law school.

He brought several classmates with him to the climb. It was an event he was proud of — one he was glad to see the university hold on an annual basis.

“I think it shows us how much the university cares and how much there are people around who still want to remember,” Barile said. "That means so much."

As the morning continued, Memorial Stadium slowly changed around the climbers as the sky brightened.

On the field, the Husker cheer squad warmed up and began its daily practice. Media members interviewed participants on the turf and in the stands. The Cornhusker Marching Band drum corps began its morning warm-up.

The climbers kept moving.

Up. Down. Again.

Nebraska remembers.