COVER STORY At the Center of the Universe by Mike Jiran, ’03
It was first period, the second day of my third year at Grand & Warren. It was my father’s birthday, nothing more. As a reluctantly suburban kid (one of a few pioneers then riding the Raritan Valley Line to school), the big, silvery towers across the harbor were mine, the outsized answer to my grammar school friends’ petty question, “Where is this Saint Peter’s Prep again?” They greeted me each morning, contributing to a sense – as only a teenage boy could experience it – of being at the center of the universe when I came to Prep each day. And so, settling into Marie Curry’s AP U.S. History class for the second time, I was annoyed for the second straight day that Burke Hall’s tiny windows hid the World Trade Center from my view.
I was as baffled by this as they were to learn that Prep stayed open. But as all hell seemed to break loose around us, Prep remained surprisingly collected. Jack Raslowsky, ’79, our principal at the time, dispelled swirling rumors with periodic updates on the loudspeaker, and guided us through the day. The news was bleak, to be sure, but we, the Prep community, were to stick together and support one another. No one was to leave unaccounted for. Following seventh period, we dutifully filed into the cafeteria, where began a truly impressive operation of ensuring each student found a way home despite the crippled transportation network – on foot, by carpool, by marching in large groups to Hoboken Terminal, where commuter trains were still in service.
I have many reasons to be grateful remembering that crisp September day – I was blessed to have my family and friends stay safe throughout. But perhaps most of all, I remain grateful for the calm leadership and It was then that Bob Zawistowski, who had been my freshman sense of brotherhood that saw Prep through some of our country’s homeroom teacher, burst in. From his perch in the biology lab directly darkest hours and the long process of healing – a process that began above, he had seen what we had not. Mr. Z’s was a voice I associated in homeroom, September 13, while schools hundreds of miles away with some combination of photosynthesis and assorted wisecracking, but remained closed. There is no place I would rather have been. he spoke with unusual gravity: “Does anyone here have a camera? Two planes just hit the World Trade Center.” Mike Jiran, ’03, Prep’s director of communications, was starting his junior year at Prep on September 11, 2001. As we crushed to the windows, the enormity of the situation was beyond our grasp. Helplessly, mindlessly, I attempted to capture a dire moment in history with a camera someone had handed me. I have never seen the photos; I don’t want to see them. Eventually we settled back into our by Jack Raslowsky, ’79 seats. Then we moved on to the next class, and the next. “Today I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I am offering you Two years later, when I started college, I learned from my new classmates life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your that their schools in places like Florida and Illinois had sent them home. descendents may live in the love of God.” Deuteronomy 30:19
Choose Life
It was a beautiful Wednesday morning as we gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Deuteronomy was our text as we gathered a thousand strong, and Springsteen’s The Rising was our soundtrack. In 2001, we were a few minutes into our first administrative team meeting of the new year just when it became clear that something was wrong. The meeting ended and a flurry of activity began: Gathering students whose parents worked at the World Trade Center, making contact with families, coordinating pickups, keeping the students and faculty informed and securing reliable information. Downtown Jersey City resembled a scene from a disaster movie as cars were coming from every direction to leave via Grand Street. We would go through a normal day on a day A year after the attacks, the Prep community gathered in the courtyard in prayer for the lives lost, and for healing.
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FALL 2011 www.SPPREP.ORg PREP MAgAzINE