On Thursday, September 11, students and faculty gathered in Benjamin hall for the school’s annual observance, marking the 24th anniversary of the attacks.
Dean of Academics Mr. Andrew Curtis opened the assembly by reflecting on Benjamin alumna Lindsey Morehouse (Class of 1994), who passed away in the attacks, and spoke of the importance of connecting today’s students to the events.
“The students as a generation have not experienced these events firsthand but live in a world that was shaped by them. As the memory of September 11 fades and fades and fewer accounts remain, it becomes all the more important to think about those tangible connections,” explained Mr. Curtis.
This year’s assembly premiered a video created and produced by Senior Betsy Farmer, who spent her summer filming a project to bring the events of September 11 to life for her peers. The piece featured a series of interviews with Benjamin faculty and staff, sharing memories of the day and how it continues to shape their lives.
Farmer’s motivation for the project stems from her own family’s deep connection to 9/11. Her father, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, a Benjamin graduate (Class of 1999), joined the army as a result of the attacks.
“I’ve always wanted to do something to honor 9/11 since I came to Benjamin because of the impact that had on my family, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do until this summer,” Farmer revealed.
Clarity came to Farmer when she and her family spent a week in Long Island, New York, with firefighters and police officers who had served during the attacks. Hearing their stories inspired me to do something similar in our own community,” Farmer said.
Farmer set out to create a documentary-style piece, prompting faculty and staff with five specific questions intended to capture their memories, emotions, and lasting impression: where and how old they were when when they first heard the news, what they remember most clearly, whether a smell or sound triggers their memory of that day, what has stayed with them overtime, and how the events changed their lives.
“Once I had all the footage, I organized the responses by question, editing together voices from multiple teachers for each segment. For example, responses were woven together from interviews with Mr. Alvarez, Mrs. Badolati, Mr. Boray, Mr. Linehan, Señora González-Lopez, Dr. Peruggia, Señora González-Lopez, Mr. Wik. Hearing their stories on and off camera was powerful. Although some were children when it happened everyone had their own vivid memories,” Farmer said.
Producing the video was no easy task. “Once I was given the green light for the assembly, it took 10 hours over the span of five days to complete everything from filming to editing,” Farmer said.
Farmer hopes her peers walked away with a deeper understanding of the significance of the attacks. “Everyone is affected by this day, even if you don’t realize it. 9/11 not only changed the lives of so many people, but it molded an entire generation and those to come,” Farmer shared.
She also wanted the project to place the attacks in a broader historical context. “9/11 is still considered the largest terrorist attack in world history with the amount of loss and damage made. We had dealt with attacks on the US before with Pearl Harbor, but that was military vs military; this was an attack on innocent civilians. It changed foreign policies, global security measures in places like airports, and it made people question who to trust. But I also wanted to show how we, as a nation, continued forward. People actually came together for the first time in a long while,” Farmer shared.
Following Farmer’s video, Mr. Curtis closed the assembly, once again urging students to reflect on the complexity and influence of September 11. Be sure to watch Farmer’s video HERE.
