South Brunswick High Students Climb Stairs For 9/11 Victims

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Sean Edwards, a phys. ed teacher and the lacrosse coach at South Brunswick High School, came up with a unique way for his students to commemorate 9/11 on Wednesday: By climbing up as many stairs as there were at the World Trade Center.

In total, South Brunswick students and staff completed 1,980 steps during their gym classes, the equivalent of the 110 flights of stairs of the World Trade Center.

As part of the climb, the gym teacher also collected donations for Tuesday's Children, a non-profit for those who have been impacted by terrorism or traumatic loss. Edwards said he personally completed more than 4,032 steps on Wednesday. Here are some of the kids walking up the bleachers at SBHS:

Edwards is the freshman boys basketball coach and varsity girls lacrosse coach at South Brunswick High.

Climbing stairs to remember the victims of Sept. 11 is not unheard of: In Madison on Wednesday, two of the town's local volunteer firefighters, Michael Sowell and Rob Kelly, climbed 110 flights of stairs at the Madison Area YMCA for the FDIC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. They were dressed in full gear at the time, too.

"110 signifies the furthest point firefighters got in the buildings," Kelly posted to social media. "The gear weighs just under 100 pounds. We began climbing at 8:50 a.m., which was the time that incident command was established and the first FDNY units made entry to the North Tower to begin rescue operations."

They climbed the 110 flights in just under 50 minutes and received a standing ovation from everyone at the gym after getting off the stair climbers.

And a volunteer firefighter down in South Jersey, Matt Gilmore, climbed 110 flights of stairs, also in full uniform and carrying a tank of oxygen, at the Tuckerton Retro Fitness. Gilmore is also a deaf firefighter and seeks to raise awareness of his unique position in the field: