A Decade Later, Students Recall Their 9/11 Memories

For many students at Harvard, it all began in the classrooms of their elementary schools. Ten years later, they remembered the attacks of September 11, 2001 in their dorm, at church, or in the common room with friends and family.

Katherine M. Olaskiewicz ’13, who attended a Catholic school in Staten Island with the view of Manhattan from the window, recalled her teacher closing all the blinds.

As an anxious child, Olaskiewicz said she started getting nervous and feeling sick. She went to the nurse’s office before her mother came to pick her up.

“I have little snapshots of memory from 9/11,” she said. “It’s not one big, long, continuous chain of story.”

Olaskiewicz said the ten-year anniversary is a day to remember those who sacrificed their lives for others, including her best friend’s father—a firefighter and her softball coach—who died in the attack.

Though Olaskiewicz had a relatively normal day—brunch in Currier dining hall with her roommate, reading in the lawn, and a trip to the mall to buy a charger—she attended the college-wide vigil to express her emotion and feel the sense of community.

“[9/11] isn’t about being afraid, being angry, or being sad,” she said. “For me, it is a day that really symbolizes the courage and the strength of the people in America, and the good in people’s heart, that they can give up everything for those they have never met before.”

Kristina Arakelyan ’13, a Brooklyn native, said she was chatting with her new classmates when a loud speaker announcement blared across the room. Soon, the parents came to pick up their children one by one.

“I couldn’t understand why students all the sudden had to go home,” Arakelyan said. “We were just children. We really didn’t understand what was going on.”

Arakelyan said she did not attend any memorial services at Harvard, but called her family in the morning to discuss the day.

“Most people in New York don’t talk about it much. It’s just too traumatic for them,” Arakelyan said, adding that her father worked at a building next to the World Trade Center in 2001.

Brendan C. Quinn ’12 and Andrew P. Ostapchenko ’12, both from California, said they too remembered the day vividly.

“It destroyed the idea that as long as you are in the U.S., you are totally safe,” Quinn said.

Both had brunch in Pforzheimer dining hall before Ostapchenko headed off to a rehearsal for a choir. Ostapchenko said he also attended the candlelight vigil.

James S. Ong ’12, who lived in New Jersey at the time, said 9/11 is a symbol of how people can come together during hard times.

Ong encouraged people to move on and continue their lives instead of dwelling only on the past.

Like many football fans on the first Sunday of the season, he spent the day watching sports with his roommates.

Even in the games, teams paid tribute to the victims by wearing commemorative jerseys and observing a moment of silence.

—Staff writer Jane Seo can be reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.