KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A silent climb at Western Michigan University's Waldo Stadium will mark 20 years since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
This is the school's second year paying tribute like this.
It started back in 2019 as a way to honor and pay remembrance to the lives lost that day.
For the silent climb, there will be three different levels for participants including a mini climb, which is half the distance, a medium climb, and a full climb, which is the full amount of steps.
Canons will go off 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. to represent the times the two planes hit the two towers. During that time, participants are asked to remain silent.
The climb will signify the 110 floors emergency responders who climbed to rescue people at the top of the World Trade Center before the building collapsed.
"You have to remember the past in order to make a better future, and when you're at an organization like Western that is that is very big into you know, experiential learning and finding ways to kind of think outside the box when it comes to how you learn about things, being able to be a part of this experience and understand that hey, us doing this not only honors the sacrifice of those individuals made in the past, but it is going to help me bring a little more clarity to why I need to do things differently in the future," said the WMU Army ROTC Scholarship and Enrollment Officer Billy Clayton.
The climb begins on Saturday at 8 a.m. and goes until 10:45 a.m.
A networking breakfast will follow the climb for those interested.
