Wantagh 9/11 memorial run raises money to send 11th graders to city museum
Shannon Pepe, left, and Alanna Pepe, 16, cross the finish line with their father and retired first responder Kenneth Pepe at the Wantagh Memorial High School's 5K on Sunday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Mia, 6, saw her mother needed a boost. So she ran up to her on the track at Wantagh High School, about 50 meters from the finish line of the school's 5k honoring those killed on 9/11, and grabbed her hand.
Mother and daughter crossed the finish line together as Mia waved a mini American flag.
“She’s here to rescue me,” Kryssia Miranda, 43, of Queens, said afterward, drenched in sweat. “She gave me that little vitamin I needed. I needed that cheerleader.”
Miranda was one of about 800 runners who participated in the inaugural Wantagh Warrior 9/11 Memorial 5K on Sunday, which raised an estimated $40,000, Wantagh High School principal Paul Guzzone said. The money will be used to send the junior class to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, pay for scholarships and build a memorial on the high school grounds.
“We’re actually at a point in time now where we have educators that weren’t alive when these events happened,” Guzzone said. “We’re getting teachers who are now teaching from secondhand. They’re teaching from stories from other people. They’re teaching from videos.
“But we want to keep it real. It doesn’t get any more real than getting those kids down to the museum.”
The Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks killed 2,753 people, including 497 Long Islanders. Another 224 people died in the crashes of a hijacked plane at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
After the race, Guzzone was approached by Susan Sliwak, 59, and her son, Kyle, 26, both of Wantagh, who thanked him for organizing the event. Sliwak’s husband, Robert, died on 9/11. He had been working on the 105th floor of the north tower during the attack. Kyle was 3 years old.
“That’s been the hardest part of growing up is not being able to remember my dad,” Kyle Sliwak said.
Both Susan and Kyle participated in the race. Kyle, who also gave a speech beforehand, said he felt heartened as he crossed the finish line and saw the mob of people. Susan agreed.
“It’s very hard, because there’s so many people here who were not alive, who don’t remember,” she said. “These events help remind everybody what happened. It made me smile to see the sense of community.”
Ian Frazier, 16, a Wantagh junior, won the race with a time of 15 minutes, 38 seconds. He intends on attending the memorial with his classmates, which John McNamara, the superintendent of the Wantagh Union Free School District, said will likely be in the spring.
It’ll be the second straight year the district has sent students to the memorial. The plan, McNamara said, is to make the trip — and the race — an annual tradition.
On Sunday, as the sun shone over Wantagh High School, he stood and watched people cross the finish line, some with smiles, some with grimaces.
“They’ve heard,” McNamara said of current students. “But they didn’t live it.”
Mia, 6, saw her mother needed a boost. So she ran up to her on the track at Wantagh High School, about 50 meters from the finish line of the school's 5k honoring those killed on 9/11, and grabbed her hand.
Mother and daughter crossed the finish line together as Mia waved a mini American flag.
“She’s here to rescue me,” Kryssia Miranda, 43, of Queens, said afterward, drenched in sweat. “She gave me that little vitamin I needed. I needed that cheerleader.”
Miranda was one of about 800 runners who participated in the inaugural Wantagh Warrior 9/11 Memorial 5K on Sunday, which raised an estimated $40,000, Wantagh High School principal Paul Guzzone said. The money will be used to send the junior class to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, pay for scholarships and build a memorial on the high school grounds.
“We’re actually at a point in time now where we have educators that weren’t alive when these events happened,” Guzzone said. “We’re getting teachers who are now teaching from secondhand. They’re teaching from stories from other people. They’re teaching from videos.
“But we want to keep it real. It doesn’t get any more real than getting those kids down to the museum.”
The Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks killed 2,753 people, including 497 Long Islanders. Another 224 people died in the crashes of a hijacked plane at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
After the race, Guzzone was approached by Susan Sliwak, 59, and her son, Kyle, 26, both of Wantagh, who thanked him for organizing the event. Sliwak’s husband, Robert, died on 9/11. He had been working on the 105th floor of the north tower during the attack. Kyle was 3 years old.
“That’s been the hardest part of growing up is not being able to remember my dad,” Kyle Sliwak said.
Both Susan and Kyle participated in the race. Kyle, who also gave a speech beforehand, said he felt heartened as he crossed the finish line and saw the mob of people. Susan agreed.
“It’s very hard, because there’s so many people here who were not alive, who don’t remember,” she said. “These events help remind everybody what happened. It made me smile to see the sense of community.”
Ian Frazier, 16, a Wantagh junior, won the race with a time of 15 minutes, 38 seconds. He intends on attending the memorial with his classmates, which John McNamara, the superintendent of the Wantagh Union Free School District, said will likely be in the spring.
It’ll be the second straight year the district has sent students to the memorial. The plan, McNamara said, is to make the trip — and the race — an annual tradition.
On Sunday, as the sun shone over Wantagh High School, he stood and watched people cross the finish line, some with smiles, some with grimaces.
“They’ve heard,” McNamara said of current students. “But they didn’t live it.”
Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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