ASL community remembers 9/11

During the 2020-21 school year, we're celebrating ASL’s 70th anniversary with a series of 70 stories highlighting our school’s vibrant past, present and future.

 

An ensemble of ASL student musicians were invited to perform at 10 Downing Street on the 3-month anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Pictured left to right: music teacher Gordon Murphy, Truan Savage ’04, Head of School Bill Mules, Morgan McMorran ’03, Laura Stuermer ’02, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Matt Yaeger ’03, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Adam Olson ’02, Britain Baker ’05, Beth Furtwangler ’04 and Jack Lowey ’04

Normality
A world collapsing around us
Smoke pours into the air
Paralyzed with hopeless fear
We search through the rubble in deep despair
Our lives will never be the same again
If we still possess them
For years we’ll reflect on this tragedy
Our free spirit condemned
— Zachary Jenson ’08, Grade 6
(Reprinted from The Scroll, 27 November 2001)

As ASL embarks upon its 70th school year, and we prepare to celebrate seven decades of its successes and outstanding educational performance, we must also acknowledge the day our world was shattered 19 years ago. This, too, is our history: September 11, 2001. 

Dean of Admissions Jodi Warren (ASL 1988-present) recalls that MS and HS students had just been released from their final class of the day; the lower school students wouldn’t be starting for another week while construction on the new Waverley Place entrance wrapped up. Administrative Assistant Miriam Brody (ASL 1995-2005) was on campus along with other LS faculty and staff when she received a phone call in the afternoon from Gary Smilowitz, husband of Grade 3 teacher Margie Smilowitz (ASL 2000-02) and a US naval officer stationed in London. “There has been an attack on the World Trade Center in New York,” he warned. “The school needs to be alerted.” Miriam immediately found LS Principal Julie Ryan (ASL 1994-2013), and news spread quickly to the other senior administrators. “Gary was our first hero,” Miriam commented. 

In a letter to parents published in October, Head of School Bill Mules (1998-2007) described the throng of parents waiting to collect children from Loudoun Road, exchanging information about the reports, “a cluster of hugs and tears.” Observing their reactions, Dr. Mules was pulled aside by Nick Allen, headmaster of neighboring British boys’ prep school Arnold House. “Nick extended his hand and we firmly exchanged grasps,” Bill wrote. “For a moment it was the handshake of Churchill and Roosevelt, across 3,000 miles of ocean.”

The hallway murmurs relaying a terrible event in lower Manhattan soon reached Director of Communications Wendy Robinson (ASL 1992-present), who then worked in admissions. “Living in London, we were all too familiar with news of this ilk,” she said recently. “We lived through the IRA bombings in the ’70s. But on that warm Tuesday, little did we know of the scale of the tragedy in the making.”

Mona Antoun ’02, a senior, first heard the news in the Commons. “I didn’t know who to believe because people were coming in with different stories,” she wrote in an editorial for The Standard student newspaper, where she served as editor-in-chief. As he made his way down the Red Staircase after school, sophomore Jack Lowey ’04 bumped into classmate Shurouq Algusane, who asked if he had heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. “Living most of my life abroad, I hadn’t actually been to New York City yet and only understood the significance of the Twin Towers through photographs and movies,” Jack recounted. “I was picturing an old-timey biplane making a small dent in the side of a large building. But as we walked to the computer lab, where CNN was being projected onto a large wall, we joined a growing crowd of students and teachers watching silently as the catastrophe unfolded.” 

An article from The Standard, October 2001, surveying students and teachers about their first reactions to the 9/11 attacks

Down another hallway in the tech department, Ms. Robinson and numerous other staff stood around Danny Dawson’s (ASL 1999-present) computer to watch the footage of the towers crumbling. “It was a comfort to watch those unbelievable scenes as a supportive group,” she explained. “Being in an American school and experiencing the horrific situation in real-time was something I’ll never forget.”

Shock. Incredulity. Fear. These were the prevailing initial reactions of the ASL community. “[I felt] horror, shock and disbelief in equal quantities,” described HS English teacher Patricia Barry (ASL 1972-2003). “[It was] a cocktail guaranteed to stupefy.” Daniel Cook ’04 shared a similar sentiment. “My first thought was...you gotta be kidding!” he said to a Standard reporter. “My second thought was, is my dad there?” 

In the library with colleagues glued to the news, it occurred to Dean Warren and Associate Head of School Margaret Grandy (ASL 1988-2009) that ASL’s new families needed to be checked on. “Someone printed a list of our new parents and their phone numbers,” Mrs. Warren said. “And the staff remaining at school stayed late to call every single one of them and ask if they were okay.” Ms. Robinson also praised the School’s quick and compassionate responsiveness to the sudden crisis—an approach that resonates with how our current leaders have navigated operations during COVID-19. “In true ASL fashion, counselling and opportunities for reflection were swiftly offered to students, parents and staff,” she praised. The parents’ October 2001 newsletter confirms this, citing how the first meeting of the school’s crisis management team, established in 1999, convened within two hours of hearing about the attacks. The following day, school commenced an hour later to allow faculty and staff time to discuss how best to support students. When the middle and high schoolers arrived, they were sent to divisional meetings to hear from their principals. “You may wonder why we are here at school today in light of yesterday’s traumatic events,” began MS Principal Ronni McAffrey (ASL 1995-2006) in her address to Grade 5-8 students and their faculty. “I know many of you would have preferred to remain safe and warm under your duvets, avoiding the realities of this particular morning. However, we couldn’t do that because we…[have] formed a community. True and strong communities stick together not just in the good times, but also in the sad and difficult times. Today, possibly more than [ever], we need to be together.”
  
These meetings followed with advisory group sessions, and Mrs. Warren hosted her ninth and tenth graders in the newly renovated admissions office that was still awaiting furniture. The set of Legos she stashed in the cupboard, reserved for young children accompanying prospective parents to meet with her, made an unusual appearance. The teenagers sat together on the carpeted floor building Lego towers, trying to process what happened. 

Later that week, a HS assembly took place in the Annenberg Theater. “I’m sure we heard from Bill Mules and HS Principal Mimi Flood (ASL 1997-2010),” wrote Jack, “but what I remember most about that morning was when HS English teacher Paul McAdam (1999-2005) stood alone on stage performing Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower on acoustic guitar." 

On Friday, 14 September, numerous ASL families and staff made up the 2,600+ congregation who attended the memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, including US Ambassador William Farish, the Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prime Minister Tony Blair, former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Thousands more gathered outside and listened in via loudspeakers. Lauren Willoughby ’02, Student Council President, lit a candle of remembrance before the choir sang Henry Purcell’s Hear My Prayer, O Lord.

Lauren Willoughby lights a candle at the St. Paul's Cathedral 9/11 memorial service. See archival footage of the full service here.

Gradually, somehow, the school year marched on. By the end of September, a new security team arrived to safeguard campus. Plans to hold a parade in honor of the Schoolworks capital campaign building projects were scrapped, and it soon became compulsory for everyone to wear ID badges when entering campus. Three weeks after the attacks, high schoolers organized a concert of student bands and raised nearly £2,000 for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund that supported 9/11 victims. In October, 30 HS students also volunteered to entertain 200 children of the military and civilian personnel who were being honored at a Winfield House reception for their service to the US Embassy during and after September 11. That same month, Principal Flood broke the news that Alternatives were canceled. “Quite a few of the faculty who were assigned chaperone roles on various Alternatives were uneasy, some even unwilling, to accompany the students,” explained Mimi via email. “They didn't want to leave their own families...there were tensions in the student and parent body, and we decided they were best addressed in the classrooms and in the deans' and counselors' offices.” 

HS students volunteered at a Winfield House reception honoring those who assisted the US Embassy during and after September 11

Shortly before Winter Break, in December, a handful of ASL student musicians were invited to 10 Downing Street to perform God Save the Queen and The Star-Spangled Banner at another high-profile, commemorative event attended by US Ambassador Farish, Prime Minister Blair, Foreign Minister Jack Straw and US Secretary of State Colin Powell. With only a few days’ notice, music teacher Gordon Murphy (ASL 1984-2005) wrote the arrangements for the Brass Choir, which included Jack Lowey, and the ensemble squeezed in extra rehearsals to learn and perfect them. The performance was aired worldwide, evoking much pride from the school community. “We were honored to represent America at that moment,” Jack remembered, “standing steps away from Colin Powell on his first visit to meet the Prime Minister.” In April, plans for installing a full-perimeter fence around the School were announced. The changes to security and campus access were both necessary and difficult for the students to adjust to, particularly for the upperclassmen who could no longer freely come and go from Loudoun Road during the day. But ASLers were, and remain, resilient. “Looking back nearly 20 years later, the way we came together in the aftermath of that disaster reminds me of how communities around the world are supporting each other today,” Jack commented, “as once again we adjust to a new normal.” 

At the start of the 2001-02 school year, ASL’s 50th birthday festivities were well underway: a “Rededication Day” would celebrate the success of the Schoolworks campaign and the new entrance on Waverley Place; displays of archival photos were installed near the Annenberg Theater to tell ASL’s story through pictures; distinguished speakers were lined up to speak to the unique perspective of the American expat experience. But much of the “jubilee” anticipated for this milestone anniversary was suddenly dampened in the second week of September, and our community faced unprecedented change and challenge. Two decades on, the 70th anniversary plans for our school must account for another world-shifting crisis. Let us remember our past, when the tragic events of September 11, 2001 dampened our community spirit but did not extinguish it. Confronted with profound uncertainty, ASL kept “the lamp of learning alight,” as Founder Stephen Eckard (ASL 1951-71) envisioned. We carry the torch forward in 2020-21 for those we lost, for the world newly fragile with disease and for the hopeful children, teachers, staff and families who still call One Waverley Place their home.

Were you at ASL on 9/11/01? Share your memories with the alumni office.