Now adults, children of 9/11 draw inspiration from tragedy
Posted September 08, 2016 7:00 am
NEW YORK (AP) - They were kids, or not even born yet, when America's heart broke for them.
More than 3,000 children and young adults lost a parent in the deadliest terror attack on American soil. They instantly became known as the children of 9/11.
As the 15th anniversary of the attacks approaches, these children are now adults or nearly so. Their Sept. 11 legacy is now theirs to shape.
Many have been guided by a determination to honor the parent they lost or the awareness they so painfully gained.
And they have done it in ways as varied as working with refugees, studying the forces that led to the attacks or pursuing a parent's unrealized pro-sports dream.
This undated photo provided by Thea Trinidad shows her with her father, Michael Trinidad. Michael was a former high school wrestler who didn't flinch when his tomboy daughter did leaping moves off the furniture. In fact, "he'd say, 'No, you're doing it wrong _ let me show you,'" says Thea, 25, who lives in Tampa, Fla. She says she feels her father's spirit every time she goes into the ring. "This one's for you, Dad," she tells herself. "Protect me out there." (Courtesy of Thea Trinidad via AP)
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Thea Trinidad practices her wrestling moves with Isiah Kassidy at a ring in New York on Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. Her father, Michael, was a former high school wrestler who didn't flinch when his tomboy daughter did leaping moves off the furniture. In fact, "he'd say, 'No, you're doing it wrong _ let me show you,'" says Thea, 25, who lives in Tampa, Fla. She says she feels her father's spirit every time she goes into the ring. "This one's for you, Dad," she tells herself. "Protect me out there." (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Sisters Ryan, left, and Casey McGowan sit beside the stone honoring their mother on the Boston College campus in Boston on Sept. 4, 2015. Their mother, Stacey Sennas McGowan, was killed on during the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 in New York. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP)
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This photo provided by Ryan McGowan shows her tattoo with 9/11 in Roman numerals on the back of her neck in Boston on Thursday Sept. 1, 2016. Ryan was 5 when her mother, investment executive Stacey Sennas McGowan, was killed during the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. She and her younger sister both attend Boston College where Ryan says she often finds comfort at a campus labyrinth inscribed with her mom's name and those of 21 fellow BC graduates killed in in the attacks. (Ryan McGowan via AP)
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Michael Massaroli, 21, who is originally from Staten Island, N.Y., and now lives in Washington, poses for a portrait on the rooftop of his apartment building on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. Condolence messages had come from people around the country and world, many of them strangers, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks which killed his father and namesake, an investment executive. Michael was 6. "Hearing how people were so selfless and so caring to us really made me want to try to do something, career-wise, that I thought would help other people." He sees himself eventually working in government as an adviser or aide. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2009 file photo, Diane Massaroli holds a picture of her late husband, Michael Massaroli, who worked as an investment executive in the World Trade Center, as his name is read during a ceremony at ground zero on eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in New York. Their son Michael is pursuing a career in public service because of the caring the public showed his family after his father was killed on 9/11. "I really try and at least get positive personal growth out of something that was so horrific," he says, "rather than let it break me down." (AP Photo/Chris Hondros, Pool, File)
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Michael Massaroli, 21, who is originally from Staten Island, N.Y., poses for a portrait in Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. He is pursuing a career in public service because of the caring the public showed his family after his father was killed on 9/11. "I really try and at least get positive personal growth out of something that was so horrific," he says, "rather than let it break me down." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Baylor University student Sonia Shah speaks during an interview in Waco, Texas on Aug. 25, 2016. Sometimes, after refugees told her their stories of conflict and loss, Shah would let them know that she had one, too. Explaining that her father died in 9/11 opened "a bonding moment," says the social work student, who spent the summer volunteering with refugee aid organizations in Greece. (AP Photo/John Mone)
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This 2001 photo provided by Sonia Shah shows her father Jayesh "Jay" Shah with his children. Shah was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center only a few months after his family moved from Texas for his new job as a financial-trading technology executive. From left are Nikita, Kevin, Jayesh and Sonia. Fifteen years later Sonia is a Baylor University social work student, who spent the summer volunteering with refugee aid organizations in Greece. She said her father's death fueled her impulse to try to help where others turn away. (Jyothi Shah via AP)
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Anjunelly Jean-Pierre, left, and her sister, Rachel Jean-Pierre, pose for a photo in New York on July 30, 2016. Anjunelly was 19 and Rachel 15 when their mother, Maxima Jean-Pierre, known for her big-hearted personality, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks at the World Trade Center where she worked in the executive kitchen at an investment firm. After culinary school and a stint as a sous-chef for an Emeril Lagasse TV show, Anjunelly now works in a setting where bringing people together is perhaps especially important: She is a manager in the Members' Dining Room in Congress. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)
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This fall 1999 photo provided by Anjunelly Jean-Pierre, shows her mother, Maxima, center, with her daughters Rachel, left, and Anjunelly at their mother's wedding celebration in Baldwin, NY. Anjunelly was planning on a future in the military, but after her mother was killed at the World Trade Center, where the Dominican immigrant managed an executive cafe, her daughter decided to follow her mother into a career based on food and nurturing. (Courtesy of Anjunelly Jean-Pierre via AP)
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This undated photo provided by Alexandra Wald shows her, right, with her sister and father, Victor, visiting the White House in Washington. Alexandra wanted to understand. She soaked up books about the forces and failures that led to Sept. 11. She took four years of Arabic in college, got a master's degree in international relations and aspired to work in intelligence. "Being as affected as I was by the geopolitical landscape and my dad being killed on 9/11," she says, "I wanted to make sure it never happened again." Fifteen years later, at 28, she works on a cybersecurity project for a contractor for the federal General Services Administration in Washington. (Courtesy of Alexandra Wald via AP)
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In this undated family photo provided by Jacqueline Mialm, her daughter Myejoi Milam hugs her younger brother, Ronald. Ronald Milam Jr. never met his father. His mother was pregnant with him on 9/11 when U.S. Army Major Ronald Milam died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon in Washington. (Jacqueline Mialm via AP)
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This 2016 photo provided by Jacqueline Mialm shows her son, Ronald Milam Jr., in his basketball uniform at Barbara Bush Middle School in San Antonio, Texas. The teenager doesn't always tell his football and basketball teammates there's a reason he wears the number 33. It's for his father, Army Maj. Ronald Milam, who was 33 when he was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11. (Jacqueline Mialm/David Sixt via AP)
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