WCC emergency medical technician, paramedic, and law enforcement students will climb 78 stories (38 laps on a “track” of stairwells and breezeways between buildings) to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
They will pay tribute to the 403 public safety personnel – 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters, 23 New York City Police Department officers, and 37 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officers – who died in the line of duty that day.
The 78 flights replicate the effort made by firefighters and the signify the highest floor they were able to reach in the South Tower before it collapsed.
A tribute to those America lost in the war in Afghanistan is also planned.
The first portion of the event during which participants are given their charge and choose the person in whose name they will climb, as well as the first floors of the climb, will be live streamed on the college’s Facebook page (@wayneccnc). That will begin at 9 a.m.
Members of the public are invited to attend to encourage the participants.
Attendees have the opportunity to contribute nonperishable foods that will be added to the items that participants in the Second Annual POW/MIA Ruck March will carry and contribute. That 12-mile trek is a project of the Air Force Sergeants Association Chapter 371 of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Details about that event are available here.
Attendees are reminded that the college requires that masks be worn outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained.
