What started as a local F3 group’s event to remember 9/11 has grown into what is now a community of more than 200 Hopewell High School students and staff and local community members who come together to honor the day by climbing the stadium steps. 

Early Friday morning on the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, Hopewell High opened its stadium gates again for the occasion. One step at a time, up and down the bleachers —- some with a fire hose around their shoulders —- participants made their way up and down the equivalent of one, or two, of the twin towers. 

At the completion of their climb, participants were encouraged to ring a bell in honor of those lost. 

“This is one of my favorite events. It’s so powerful,” said DJ Mehall, dean of students at Hopewell. Mehall was in high school on 9/11 and said he remembers the day “like it was yesterday.” When he first noticed the F3 group using the stadium steps to do their climb, he wanted to make it official and have his soccer students participate. Year after year, participation continued to grow.

“But I can also connect to being a high schooler as they don’t really understand the event because they weren’t alive yet. So I definitely wanted to have this opportunity to share with them and make this event special. That way, they kind of get a little bit of that feeling and put their ‘boots on the ground’ and go up the steps and have that connection as well.”

 “It’s great to build community and also have that Sept. 11 feeling — coming together and remembering the lives that were lost that day,” added Mehall. “Definitely a special place in our hearts.”

Money raised from the stair climb will go toward the Firefighters’ Burned Children Fund, Inc.