Freshman Sean Powers walked into his homeroom where he was enthusiastically greeted by his senior advisor Dan Becvar. English teacher Chuck Hussung casually prepared for his first period class in J128. Athletic Director Dick Wehner stopped Social Studies teacher Tom McCarthy in senior hallway for a quick chat. And like always, St. Louis U. High’s president Fr. Paul Sheridan S.J. arrived at his office early in the morning to get a jump start on the day. September 11, 2001 seemed like any other normal day, until it wasn’t. 

First period had just ended. It was for the most part uneventful, a couple lively conversations about various theology topics but nothing out of the ordinary. Wehner was heading back to his Athletic Directors office when he was stopped in the hallway by Social Studies teacher Steve Alyward.

“Mr. Aylward, who used to teach history here, stopped me and said, ‘Hey, a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center,’” said Wehner. “I thought that it was probably some guy in a single engine plane that  made a mistake or something happened but I didn't think that it was a terrorist attack.”

Like Wehner, Hussung assumed that it was merely an accident, not an attack on the American people. He was tidying up his classroom in J128 and as he was walking out, Fr. Ralph Houlihan, S.J. stopped him and informed him that a plane had just flown into one of the twin towers. 

“I had a St. Louis University student observing me at the time. And right after Fr. Houlihan had informed me of what had happened. I remember him saying that he had a cousin who was in New York who was on a business trip and he started worrying about his cousin,” said Hussung. “I can still see this kid crossing himself when he realized his cousin might be in danger.”

Initially, the faculty and students believed that the first plane crash was a mere accident, a terrible tragedy, but not a direct attack on America. It was not until the second plane crashed into the South Tower they realized what was going on.

Sheridan had heard about the first plane hitting the North Tower, but he had to continue on with the rest of his day, including making final tweaks to his homily that he would be giving at the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit the following day. Suddenly, Sheridan’s secretary burst into his office, out of breath, and hastily told him that he needed to turn on the television to the local news station. 

“My secretary came running in telling me to turn the TV on, and so I turned it on and I immediately  saw the second plane as it hit the Sorth Tower,” said Sheridan. “That's when I knew that what had happened was not an accident but a terrorist attack.” 

For the most part, students were oblivious to the fact that an attack had been carried out on American soil. The second tower was hit while students were sitting in their second period class, unaware that in a matter of mere seconds, the world was forever changed.

Up until that point in my life and I'm sure a lot of my classmates would have said the same thing, the country seemed like an incredibly safe place to be in.

-Daniel Becvar

Becvar was sitting in his dad’s BC Calculus class, intensively laboring over the first test of the year. While he was taking the test, Eric Clark, the current Dean of Students, came in and whispered something in his father’s ear. Becvar could see his father’s eyes widen with alarm.

 “I didn't know anything  had happened until the end of the period, we finished our tests and my dad kind of told the class what had happened,” said Becvar. “We all went into an Activity Period just kind of feeling really out of place, like in a totally different world because it just hadn't really happened in our lifetime at that point.” 

After his second period class, McCarthy walked into the social studies office to find a note on his desk, it simply said: “Your wife called. Call her back!” 

“I called my wife and she told me what was going on, and we just talked about how to respond to this tragedy, and whether we should get our two boys from grade school and preschool,” said McCarthy. 

Right after second period, Clark came over the PA and announced that there had been a terrorist attack in New York City but gave no other details. 

“He said something to the effect of, ‘there's been a terrorist attack in New York. We are just going to continue our day as usual’,” said Powers.  “There was a lot of discussion and chatting in the hallway about what he meant when he said a terrorist attack. Most people were thinking that maybe a car ran into somebody or there was a shooting. All of those are tragic but nobody thought that it was something as serious as two planes crashing into the twin towers.”

During AP, Powers walked over to the old cafeteria, which housed four TVs. Usually the TVs were tuned to ESPN while students were shouting and running around them. That day, the old cafeteria was eerily still, with a horde of students staring intently at the TVs, all tuned to a national news network.

“I was still new to SLUH and so I didn't really know what to do during Activity Period,” said Powers.  “I can remember every day that year thinking about who my friends were, or who to hang out with during AP. But that day I have a distinct memory of  just mindlessly walking into the old cafeteria and seeing a large amount of people crowded around the TVs in the cafeteria and just watching the news as it was all unfolding.”

Every student and faculty member was stunned, stunned that such an egregious attack could be taken out against the American people. Stunned that somebody would want to hurt so many innocent people. Stunned that America was not the invincible powerhouse that everybody once thought it was. 

“On that day I was stunned,” said Hussung. “I could not focus on anything but the attacks. I remember feeling very tired all day long. And throughout the day I kept wondering, ‘was this how people felt the day Pearl Harbor was bombed?’”

Students meandered into the rest of their classes, unsure of what to make out of the whirlwind events happening around them. Some teachers attempted to carry on with their intended lesson plans while others simply threw the lesson plans out the window and used the day as a teaching moment. 

“It was a teachable moment,” said Wehner.  “I certainly didn't cover what I wanted to cover that day. We talked about what happened with the TVs on. Teenagers are very very vulnerable and they think they have a Superman complex where they believe that they are invincible, so I felt like it was my duty to talk to them about what was happening.”
At 3:00 the final bell sounded, but this tumultuous day was not over. The administration decided to hold a school wide prayer service in the old gym, praying for those that died, for the first responders, and for the country. 

“We had a prayer service with all of the kids in the afternoon in the gym,” said Sheridan. “There I could speak to all of them. Words of consoling and so forth and to advise them to surround their pain and anguish with prayer.” 

As soon as they were released to go home, students immediately turned on the news, itching to hear the latest updates about the tragic events that unfolded earlier in the day. 

“I was in a carpool with four other guys and one of the dads that picked us up liked listening to KMOX radio, and none of us really liked it so we usually talked over it,” said Powers. “But that day we were all dead silent on the way home from SLUH, intently listening to the events unfold.”

“That night at home I remember just watching the news with my parents and my two siblings,” said Becvar. “None of us had really ever witnessed anything like that before. 9/11 definitely changed the course my senior year.”

For the next couple of weeks the school was on edge. Students and faculty alike were still trying to grasp the full scope of what had happened and how to appropriately respond to the events. Many were calling for war, others were still just trying to come to terms with the full severity of what had happened. One event that the administration tried to use to help bring some sense of solace to the grieving community was the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which happened to already be scheduled for the following day, September 12.  

“We  got to celebrate Mass together, as a school, in the old gym the day after and I felt like that kind of helped bring some comfort to the community,” said Becvar. 

The days following the attack were unsettled. 

“For the next week all the planes were grounded. Normally in Forest Park you get used to the noises of planes flying overhead, and for a week they all were grounded,” said McCarthy. “When the planes returned my assistant coach and I looked at each other and were like ‘oh my gosh, there's a plane in the sky’.” 

Even once the planes returned to the skies, one worrisome piece of talk continued rifling throughout the halls of SLUH: conversation about a looming war and a potential draft. 

“The talk of war became more popular and commonplace after 9/11. And then subsequently when the war in Iraq happened, it became a really big serious conversation among the students,” said Powers. “Naturally talk of a potential draft was going on in the political news. Being an all boys high school filled with a bunch of young adults, people were sort of nervous about the possibility of being drafted.”

Clark said something to the effect of, "there's been a terrorist attack in New York. We are just going to continue our day as usual."

-Sean Powers

The ensuing days were filled with much confusion and despair, but one fact was certain: the faculty and students of SLUH were living through history. The events that they had just witnessed would be talked about for years to come. 

“I think we consciously knew that this was the Pearl Harbor for our generation,” said McCarthy. “Looking back 20 years from now, in hindsight. I think it's safe to say that 9/11 is an event that massively changed the course of US history and people’s lives as we know it.”

For the students of SLUH, 9/11 was an eye-opening event. An event that showed them that evil persists in the world, that America is vulnerable, that the nation is not invincible to enemy attacks, that they could no longer take the safety they felt for so long for granted.

“Up until that point in my life and I'm sure a lot of my classmates would have said the same thing, the country seemed like an incredibly safe place to be in,” said Becvar. “And that day kind of changed the feeling of security and safety and it made us question our own safety and realize the things, like safety and a strong country, that we have taken for granted.”