A display of student reflections, collected over 13 years by retired Adjunct Professor Paulette Hughes, was featured as part of St. John’s University’s commemoration of the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The exhibit was set up in the first-floor lobby of the D’Angelo Center on September 11, 2025. It showcased essays and creative works from students in Professor Hughes’ classes between 2011 and her retirement in 2024. The collection included both firsthand accounts from students who remembered the day and tributes from those born after the attacks, honoring nearly 3,000 victims and hundreds of first responders.
Professor Hughes had previously displayed these essays at St. John’s Staten Island campus but brought them to Queens for the first time this year. “It was a difficult day, but I would like us to remember how we all helped each other to heal,” she said. “That outpouring of love and kindness was something we needed.”
The project began on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 when Professor Hughes asked her students to describe their memories of that day. Over time, submissions expanded beyond essays to include posters, artwork, newspaper clippings, dioramas about notable stories such as Thunder Dog—a guide dog who led his owner out of danger—and Stephen Siller, a firefighter whose death inspired his family to create the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
“It really is a tribute to my students,” Professor Hughes said. “Each year, I offered them a few options in the assignment, and they just ran with it. It blossomed and grew every year.”
The display also featured books about September 11 curated by Professor Hughes and her students over several years. These materials documented both the events themselves and acts of heroism by members of New York City’s emergency services.
Student reflections included personal stories such as Rosina D’Amato’s account recalling her father’s reaction after surviving both attacks on the World Trade Center; Anthony Fauzzi wrote about his family’s relief when an uncle returned home safely from near Ground Zero; international student Daria Semisynova described visiting Ground Zero for an assignment; Ariana LoBianco reflected on volunteering with charities like Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
“It is a day of togetherness, for a purpose,” Ms. LoBianco wrote about participating in charity runs supporting families affected by 9/11. “Having contributed to such a worthy cause has made me aware of the importance of volunteerism.”
Graduate student Aidan Heffernan spoke about his father’s work at Ground Zero as a firefighter: “My dad worked at Ground Zero during the recovery,” he said. “He has shared his memories of that day with me. His heroism, and the heroism of all the first responders, inspires me to this day.”
St. John’s University also marked September 11 with two daily Masses at St. Thomas More Church and an Office of Mission Initiatives walking tour highlighting memorials on campus—including one featuring iron salvaged from the World Trade Center site dedicated to victims such as Thomas More Brennan.
At Mass, University Chaplain Rev. Hugo Medellín told attendees: “If we are ever going to change the world, it will be through love.”
