Teaching 9/11 History to a Generation With No 'Personal Memory' of That Terrible Day

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — In the end zone of the Marian Catholic High School football field, a plaque dedicates a flagpole to a name largely unknown to students: Patrick Murphy.

Marian Catholic students might spend four years at the Chicago Heights school without ever reading the inscription. They might never know Murphy, an alumnus of the school, played on that same field as an offensive lineman until he graduated in 1981. They might never know Murphy was killed in the terrorist attack at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

High school students in 2016 might not be connecting to the 9/11 attacks much at all.

Steven Tortorello, the principal at Marian Catholic and an Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher there, said the history of the attacks can be more difficult to teach nowadays. Most of his students are too young to have been alive when the tragedy spun the country into a panic and a war. They know it’s important, but 9/11 just doesn’t resonate as much with them.

“I think what you notice is that the kids don’t have a personal memory of it,” Tortorello said. “Now, many freshmen were born in 2002, after the fact. Even the juniors and seniors were only 2 or 3.”

Tortorello himself was a sophomore sitting in a Marian Catholic history classroom when he learned of the attacks. His class was watching a movie on VCR. When the period ended, his teacher turned off the film and the TV switched to live news in time to see the Twin Towers on fire.

Since he was 16, his memories of the day are vivid, down to the classroom numbers and teachers he saw that day. He learned the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers weren’t accidental while he was in study hall. He remembers thinking how strange it was that he was watching the news in chemistry class.

Tortorello said he finds most students aren’t oblivious to the event, but their memories of first learning about the crucial piece of American history come largely from the same place: their homes.

Parents treat it like another coming-of-age talk, it seems, Tortorello said. Mixed in with the intricacies of growing up is the chat about the event that seemed to launch the phenomenon of terrorism in the U.S. — a concept familiar to any generation today.

The president of Marian Catholic, Vince Krydynski, wasn’t at school when he learned of the attacks; he’d graduated years ago. He was an attorney driving to court when he heard the news on the radio, and could only focus on pulling into a local cafe and checking on his wife, who was evacuating the Sears Tower downtown.

He had no idea his former classmate, friend, fellow '81 grad and football teammate was in the Pentagon — and much less that he was in the path of American Airlines Flight 77.

Murphy was serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve at the time of the attacks and was completing a two-week round of active duty at the Pentagon, according to his Arlington Cemetery obituary. He was 38 years old when he died.

Krydynski, still active in the Marian Catholic community, heard the news quickly. The shock hit him hard.

“When you hear something like that, and it’s such a pivotal moment not just for the country but for the school, it brings that tragedy much closer to home,” he said.

That mindset is what Tortorello uses to close the gap in understanding with his students.

“I tell them my own personal memory,” he said, and the fact he was in the same classrooms and hallways as they are now helps to create a sense of connection.

Krydynski still carries memories of Murphy — “Murph” or “Pat” to him — through the halls of Marian Catholic. He pauses to recognize the small glass-cased memorial of Murphy in the athletic section of the school during every tour he gives.

He knows about the flagpole. He’s read the plaque.

Tortorello said most history classes usually run out of class time by the end of World War II coverage. They don’t even reach 9/11 history.

But in his AP classes, he makes sure to cover the event twice: once on its anniversary and once toward the end of his curriculum.

He mentions Murphy every time.

“The immediate connection might not be there,” Tortorello said. “But it’ll long be a significant moment in history.”

— By Anicka Slachta for Patch

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