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These are stories of 9/11.
Here you will read memories, remembrances of what happened two decades ago on one day in American history that anyone alive then will never forget. These are stories about that day, told by everyday people from across America and the world. Some people will tell of running through the streets of Manhattan, covered in dust and debris from the fallen World Trade Center towers, or of crawling from the rubble of the Pentagon. Others describe the day as they experienced it in places as far flung as rural Tennessee, Charlotte, or in Beijing.
Everyone has a story to tell and the goal of this project was to simply ask good questions, listen, and make a contribution to the historical record. Gathered here also are reflections on where people were in their lives and their thoughts at the time of their interviews in the 2010s or early 2020s. In other words, in subtle and sometimes less subtle ways, the storytellers here talk about how 9/11 has shaped their lives and their thinking over time. There are discussions here about anxiety and depression, career changes, TSA, and cross-country moves (just to name a few topics) that were a result of the events on one fateful day. There are quite a few narratives, as might be expected, that express one political view or another. Since Dr. Richey began this project, America has had three different presidents. You will hear mention of those presidents and other political figures, and you will see discussions about race, ethnicity, and religion. You will also hear time and again about how cell phones and the internet have changed how we consume news since 2001.
The stories here are presented for educational purposes as primary documents useful for anyone interested in studying 9/11. The interviews have been gathered over the course of the last 8 years by students in the Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) course at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. These were students like us, and from the start, Dr. Richey told us that his intention was to publish some of our oral histories on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. This website, therefore, represents the work of a wide range of former students, some of whom are now well beyond college and actively building their careers. We thank all of them for their hard work, whether it was last year, or in 2014.
With the launch of the website on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we present twenty stories from across the years of the project. Each successive week, we will publish a story on Tuesday mornings at 8:46 am, the time of day when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Since Dr. Richey began this project, he has taught APUSH to nearly 500 young men here at McCallie, and while all of their stories did not make this website (some very good ones involved interviewees who did not agree to publication), they all contributed to it in one way or another. We are hopeful that the world these young men and the rest of us inhabit going forward will be a place without the horrors of another 9/11.
Daniel Cui '19 and Vihaal Vellanki '22
Project Assistants to Dr. Richey
Recent Additions
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About
Thinking Like A Historian
On the morning of September 11, 2001, my wife and I were living in Boulder, Colorado, where I was completing a doctorate in American history. We had a precious newborn son, not yet four months old. Between the constant work of graduate school and baby feedings, there were many late nights.
I was awakened early that morning by a phone call from my brother. He was two time zones away from me, calling from Charleston, South Carolina. Something was clearly wrong.
“Are you watching TV?”
He was animated, breathless, almost as if he had been out jogging on the beach.
“No, man,” I replied. “You just woke me up. It's ten after seven here. What’s going on?”
“Someone just outdid Timothy McVeigh.”
This was all I needed to hear to know that something awful had just occurred. And in fact, as I was soon to learn, an airplane had just been flown deliberately into the World Trade Center’s South Tower. Roughly twenty minutes earlier, a first plane had crashed into the North Tower. America was under attack.
I tell this story to my students today and immediately have to give them the context: namely, who was Timothy McVeigh? The answer weaves from the militia movements of the 1990s, to the Branch Davidians in Waco, to McVeigh’s pulling a Ryder rental truck full of ammonium nitrate in front of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, where his homemade bomb killed 168 men, women, and children. That’s part of the story I tell in a lesson that often concludes with the message that, throughout that day on 9/11, I vividly recall thinking like a historian and saying aloud to my oblivious 4 month old: “How are you going to tell this story...and process it... ten, twenty, fifty, and maybe one hundred years from now?”
The stories here will bring out all of the human emotions possible. You will laugh, and you will cry. And there will be moments, dear reader, where you will feel absolute anger. There will be moments where you think, wow, I can't believe a student found this person to interview...what an amazing story. The people here who have so generously allowed us to publish their stories may have a different perspective than you. They may think that America's response to 9/11, which included military action in Afghanistan, was right, or wrong. They may think that the invasion of Iraq was wholly and completely necessary, or perhaps they will present it as a terrible blunder. They may draw connections between 9/11 and current events in a way that makes them sound like they recorded your very words, or they may draw connections that you completely disagree with and that upset you greatly. Allow me to suggest to you what I tell my students every day: Even when we think like historians and sift through sources from the past with what we think is an objective eye, we bring significant baggage to the table. It's clearly the case when we deal with events that are recent to our memory and to a collective political consciousness. Regardless, we need to listen to every voice and treat each other with respect and dignity. Learning does not happen if we yell and scream or stomp out of the room. In other words, I encourage you to read every word whether you disagree with the person or not.
Let me discuss briefly the process for creating these oral histories. Traditionally, my students have worked on this project after an entire year of studying American history with me. Typically, we complete the project in the weeks following the AP exam in May. The exception to this was this semester, the Fall semester of 2021. Because of the 20th anniversary, I felt that it was necessary to have the students begin the year with 9/11. Prior to the interviews, students read selections from the historian Ernest May's abridged The 9/11 Commission Report, part of the wonderful Bedford/St. Martin's series of short histories, with documents, known as The Bedford Series in History and Culture. That series covers just about any topic imaginable in the American experience. The students also read parts of Garrett M. Graff's excellent book The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. We also often read selections from various works by the late Studs Terkel, who, in addition to having one of the best names known to man, was the greatest practitioner of oral history this country has produced. I also ask the students to watch two incredible documentaries (among many) on 9/11. One is The Falling Man (2006) and the other is the ESPN short, The Man in the Red Bandana (2017). For my students, especially the ones in recent years who were not yet alive on 9/11, these two films capture the horror and the heroism of the day perfectly.
The simple instructions for the students were and are to do an interview in person, either face to face, or via phone, Skype, or now, Zoom. The students are then allowed to follow up with email. The end result is to be distilled and edited from those conversations into a readable story that reads in the first person. Some of the standard questions are:
Tell me about 9/11. Where were you? How did you learn of what was happening around the country that morning?
How did you contextualize it? What were your first thoughts?
How did your understanding of the events change as time unfolded?
Did your life change in any tangible way because of 9/11? Did you as a person change in any way?
What did America learn from 9/11? How did the country change?
Close readers will note that there are factual errors in some of these stories. I have found, actually, that the vast majority of people don't really recall, for example, that only 17 minutes separated American Flight 11's crash into the North Tower from United Flight 175's crash into the South Tower. My guess is that many people, like me, were not pulled into the news until after the second crash, when it became obvious to anyone watching that this was not a Cessna, a news helicopter, or some other small aircraft, that had flown off course. Some of the things people describe doing in those seventeen minutes are likely impossible. But we all remember what it felt like to see that second plane fly into the building on TV, whether we saw it live, or on the loop of tape we have all seen now countless times. Memory is a tricky thing, and a lot of people claim to have seen the second plane live on TV. I used to think that I had seen it live, too, but in conversations over the years with my wife and brother, I realize now that I only got that phone call when it was obvious that the U.S. was under attack. Many people have also forgotten that the South Tower, the second to be hit, collapsed first. Ultimately, these facts are not what the students were seeking, or why we as readers should read the interviews. The details of some of the stories, even if they are factually off a bit, still capture the essence of that chaotic day and the days that followed. Ultimately, it is peoples' perspectives about everything in and around 9/11 that are most interesting.
For clarity's sake, I have done minor edits here and there where a student did not use a comma, a semi-colon, or some other necessary punctuation in their written interview. I have also changed some words in a few interviews, in particular the F word, which was used occasionally. Although that word carries a certain emphatic vivacity at times, I felt, given that this site will be read by many middle school students, that those few edited interviews don't lose any of their weight in a more PG-13 version.
Eight years ago, I began asking my students to interview someone, anyone who was alive on 9/11 and who would be willing to share their own story about the day. In the school year of 2018-19, my four month old son back in 2001 was then 17 and a student in my APUSH class. When I looked at him on 9/11 and wondered how he would tell the story of and make sense of that awful day, I could never have imagined that twenty years later, I would share his interview with the world on a web page. In his oral history (his name is also Duke Richey), with former NFL coach Ricky Thomas, we are reminded that everything stopped for awhile after 9/11 as professional sports leagues cancelled games. When Thomas's team, the Tampa Bay Bucs, returned in week three at Minnesota, before the coin toss the coaches and officials joined members of the military in holding a huge flag that covered the field. Many people, including Thomas, talk here about how there was this moment of great unity in America after 9/11. And that unity was so palpable in the wake of the attacks by outsiders, because before 9/11, as my brother's comment about Timothy McVeigh that morning reminds us, America was terribly torn and divided within.
I am hopeful, as you read these narratives, that in remembering 9/11, we not only honor all of those people who died, as well as the families who lost loved ones, but that we recall--or understand anew--what Coach Thomas meant in his interview with my son when he said that "after 9/11, I had a greater appreciation of how precious life is." As the US has recently left Afghanistan, dramatically after 20 years, with many unfortunate deaths and tragedy, we are reminded again of what we all felt and what Ricky articulated so well in his interview: All life is precious.
Knowing our history, and thinking like a historian is a privilege I get to take part in every day as my job, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to now share with you the work of my amazing students.
Duke Richey '86
Sen. Howard Baker Jr. ’43 Chair of American History
Stories
Stories
William Trowbridge
“It’s hard knowing that you are a captive audience living in New York, because when they close the bridges then it is impossible to get out unless you fly out or swim across.”
- Dorthe Havmoeller
- Introspective
- Jersey City
- Loss
- New Jersey
- Shock
Andreas Sillaste
“Unfortunately, I did not get a last goodbye call from my mom on the day that she got trapped on a sinking ship.”
- Estonia
- Introspective
- Sirja Sard
- Tartu
Erol House
“I initially didn’t think of the CDC as a potential target until when I saw those barricades leaving Emory; then I realized that the CDC thought that the CDC was a target.”
- Atlanta
- Georgia
- Introspective
- John House
- Unity
Vibin Vellanki
“All of the lessons that September 11th forced upon us were always right there, in front of us. The tensions and the vulnerabilities always existed, and the government knew that they existed.”
- Anonymous
- Introspective
- K.C.
- New York
- New York City
- POC
- Times Square
Nelson Hayslett
“We went from a normal day to something strange going on, ... to we have no idea what was actually happening and just random terror.”
- Fear
- Pentagon
- State Department
- Steve Harrison
- Teacher
- Washington D.C.
Jake Marcum
“The idea that fear can make you, I hate to use the word selfish, but it is, in a sense. It makes you selfish for your own self-preservation.”
- Baltimore
- Bruce Phillips
- Fear
- Introspective
- Maryland
- Washington D.C.
Nate Armstrong
“ Everyone thought that the U.S. was just this big power house that couldn’t be touched. We soon came to find that this definitely wasn’t the case.”
- Andy Anderson
- BATFE
- Chattanooga
- Shock
- Tennessee
Jacob Armstrong
“Walking over the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge was when I saw the Pentagon on fire.”
- Fear
- Firsthand
- Karim Kadie
- Muslim
- Washington D.C.
W.M.
“Everyone was surprised. It’s as if someone who couldn’t be hurt by anyone was now being punched in such an incredible manner that no one could have conceived it, that they were going to receive such a hard blow internally.”
- Disgust
- Fear
- Immigrant
- Peru
- Spiritual
- W.M.
William Moseley
“I’d say we’re safer now. Going beyond airport security, if you were to look at the security of military bases pre-9/11, it was worse than a toll booth.”
- Donald Moseley
- Introspective
- Loss
- Military
- Navy
- USS Theodore Roosevelt
Jason L. Nuttle
“We went from no thought about attacks to being super aware about being the target for overseas terrorists. We felt safe until we didn’t. We didn’t feel protected anymore.”
- California
- Fear
- Introspective
- Jason C. Nuttle
- Pleasanton
Nathan DeStefano
“To me he symbolized a literal falling of man; moreover, mankind - a hopeless descent to which I hoped we would not succumb.”
- Evon Creger
- Fear
- Mequon
- Milwaukee
- Mother
- Wisconsin
Connor Quinn
"I remember after that day, I felt a kinship with every single other New Yorker."
- College Student
- Firsthand
- New York
- New York City
- New York Law School
- Renee Daly
Jack Gentle
“It was a fundamental shift in my world view and our role in the world…I realized that things are not as black and white as I saw them before.”
- Chattanooga
- Introspective
- Tennessee
- T.J. Gentle
Grayson Trowbridge
“It was all just absolutely surreal and, you know, somehow, someone held a hand over us and we escaped it.”
- Close Call
- Jan Havmoeller
- New York
- New York City
Conor Kinley
“When I was a kid I lived in Jersey City, which was right across the river from New York City, and I watched them building…the World Trade Twin Towers… I looked at the Towers everyday.”
- Bar Harbor
- Boston Logan
- Cliff Kinley
- Maine
Andrew Landsbergen
“I actually don’t think that the attacks were the worst thing that ever happened here. I feel like what has come after has been much worse - the fear that people have. The fear of each other that people have. The suspicion of people that don’t look like you. I feel like that’s so much worse than what happened that day.”
- Introspective
- Jennifer Windell
- Mother
- Netherlands
Colin Carter
“Anytime you have an F-16 do two passovers at 500 mph followed by Air Force One landing, you know something’s up.”
- Bossier City
- Louisiana
- Military
- Nick Russo
Robbie Watkins
“To this day, I still have his contact in my phone. I just don't have the heart to delete it.”
- Atlanta
- Georgia
- Introspective
- Loss
- Robert Watkins
Cotton Snoddy
“One thing that the dog people said was that when the planes hit the buildings and the buildings fell, all the dogs went wild, because they were so close and they could tell there was a big disturbance.”
- Introspective
- Martha Redding
- New York
- New York City
- New York Stock Exchange
Cole Nevins
“For me, in a very unique way, I feel like having had that experience together, me being a flight attendant, him being a fireman very much galvanized our relationship. We shared something that was a very unique bond.”
- Atlanta
- Chip & Raina Newell
- Dual Interview
- Firefighter
- Georgia
- Introspective
Ani Harsha
“I can say that my life has pretty much been measured as a before and after September 11th, because on that day my life and my family’s life changed forever.”
- Keith Palmer
- Loss
- Middle Schooler
- New York
- New York City
Ricky Wang-Polendo
“We needed to know what their weapon was going to be, and we clearly knew. We knew that some bad guys connected to Al-Qaeda wanted to know how to fly.”
- Active Case
- FBI
- Harry Samit
- Minneapolis
- Minnesota
Robert Cummings
“I think we became more suspicious…I don’t think we have healed, because these sentiments that were stirred up are still very much alive…”
- California
- Grandparent
- Oakland
- Sue Davies
Niko Jackson
“So just weeks later there was already an ingrained thought that terrorists could now hijack planes and if you are in any large gathering of people you are a target.”
- Ben Jackson
- College Student
- University of Georgia
Davis Little
“I will never forget going through London’s Heathrow Airport: it was like a ghost town. Even though the airports had reopened, nobody wanted to fly; it was like the world had stopped.”
- Britain
- International
- London
- Sally Stewart
Nathan Liu
“It was reported that there were two groups happy because of 9/11: the Middle Easterners and the Chinese. It was mostly a small minority of people online, but it was very cruel. When the Chinese-American community heard about this, they were furious. They were angry that there were people celebrating such evil things.”
- China
- Cun Yu
- Immigrant
- New York City
- Peking Opera
- Queens
Parker Davidson
“I think he was aware that the White House was threatened, so he told us to get down in the basement. He didn’t say it that way, but calmly, without raising any alarms he encouraged us to go to the basement.”
- Hershey
- Introspective
- Timothy McCoy
- Washington D.C.
Evan Ellinger
“It’s the small things like telling our favorite stories of him to each other that make you realize it’s so much better to try and find the good in the situation rather than let it eat you alive.”
- Dalton
- Georgia
- Gretchen Abernathy
- Loss
- Teacher
Mac Poston
“I had a client who was a roofer, and he happened to bear an uncanny resemblance to Osama Bin Laden. He was tall, thin, very dark complected, and even had the beard. I actually got my case continued because the judge agreed he looked too much like Osama Bin Laden.”
- Chattanooga
- Court
- MacCracken Poston
- Tennessee
- Xenophobia
Colin Chen
“A lot of people around me didn’t want to know the real reasons these individuals attacked us, but simply wanted someone to blame…We’re humans, we are not unconscious animals. We can work through issues with diplomacy, trying to understand both sides.”
- High Schooler
- Marcus Murphy
- Rhea County
- Teacher
- Tennessee
William Bolin
“The boys were mesmerized and excited by the helicopters, but they had no idea why the helicopters were flying. I remember thinking about the innocence of children and wanting to somehow preserve that innocence in my two young boys for as long as possible.”
- Gaithersburg
- golf
- Maryland
- Steve Bolin
Will Philpott
“You cannot hit a country like ours, and do that kind of damage, and not expect this country to react like that.”
- Jonathan Philpott
- Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia
- Surgeon
Boden Brindell
“For all of us, it changed our expectations for what American life might be like.”
- Lynn Brindell
- Mother
- New York
- New York City
Sultan Minhas
“In the years after 9/11, I have felt like I need to be an even better Muslim. I have to show, through my actions, what Islam really teaches.”
- Ahmadi
- Allentown
- Khola Humayun
- Muslim
- Pennsylvania
Sam Bennett
“That’s the most vivid memory for me. It was a yellow necktie. The force of what happened was just sending whatever was in the office building down to the ground. You’re standing there thinking, ‘that’s somebody’s necktie, or daily planner, or coffee cup.’ It’s the personal stuff.”
- Firsthand
- New York
- Paul Murdock
- Staten Island
Ian Campbell
“I was just telling people what to do immediately: let’s get together, make sure you’ve got your stuff, grab your things, let’s go. Because, obviously, you’re going to get out of a burning building.”
- Cate Mueller
- Navy
- News
- Pentagon
Christopher Wiley
“I’ve got this one-and-a-half year old baby that I have every hope for in the world, and I’m watching the world crumble.”
- Ben Wiley
- Father
- Provo
- Utah
Chase Hamelink
“At that moment it was flight or fight, and my body decided flight.”
- Anniversary
- Anthrax
- Pregnant
- Stacy Reinhardt
Duke H. Richey
“After 9/11, I had a greater appreciation of how precious life is. I made sure I said how I felt to my immediate family members and neighbors and not waiting until an appropriate time to say, hey, here’s how I feel about you, but taking advantage of the opportunity right then and there that day and saying I care about you and I love you.”
- Florida
- Military Family
- NFL
- Ricky Thomas
- Tampa
Nelson Eiselstein
“We never feared of being attacked like most people did, but rather we feared having to be the attackers.”
- Daniel Kadwell
- Fuquay-Varina
- High Schooler
- North Carolina
Mac Hunt
“The events of 9/11 for our school community emphasized the need more than ever for the core Quaker values of our institution.”
- Bruce Stewart
- Education
- Grandparent
- Greensbro
- North Carolina
Josh McBride
“At the end of the day, all we want to do is be there for our children and keep them safe, and on that day no one really felt safe.”
- Michelle Glover
- Mother
- Worry
Turner Davidson
“I knew he was dead as soon as the second tower collapsed, but I did not give up hope that Rob was alive for days, months, and really even years after the attacks…”
- Chattanooga
- Loss
- Patrick Lenoir
- Sibling
- Tennessee
Bennett Brock
“…there was still a sense in which it wasn't happening in Chattanooga, but the scale and scope of it made it feel definitely more like this was going to matter to all of us everywhere…”
- Chattanooga
- Ice Cream
- Marshall Brock
- Tennessee
Ibrahim Aslam
"I remember standing there with my mouth open. And then, the thought came into my mind, “Oh my god, I hope, I pray that it’s not a Muslim who did that.” I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I was just horrified at the situation, just horrified... and then when I learned it was Muslims, I was devastated."
- Asma Khan
- Discrimination
- Muslim
- Texas
Will Hunt
"For me, the way I look at 9/11 is shaped by my background studying history."
- Cultural Jew
- Firsthand
- New York
- New York City
- Rachel Kirsh
Will Parker
"I think that a lot of stuff around intolerance that we are seeing is connected to it, because people personalize it and are reactive and want to feel safe. So if you can demonize someone out there, then you can set up systems to keep the demon away and I think I see a lot of that in our world."
- Brad Whitaker
- Chattanooga
- Faith
- New Jersey
- Priest
- Tennessee
Davis Little
“Buddy, I just crawled out of the World Trade Center; your dinner plans review with your wife is going to have to end now.”
- 59th Floor
- Firsthand
- Jan Weaver
- Premonition
- Survivor
Luke Gilbert
“Any time the sky is that color blue, I think of that morning. Everybody here does. It really was a gorgeous, gorgeous day… ”
- Jean Carsey
- Long Island
- Mother
- New York
- Vivid Memory
Nathan Smartt
“He sort of picked me up and swung me around and I remember that ashy, smoky smell on his coat. Then he put me down and we went about our business. That was my first moment.”
- First Responder
- Ground Zero
- Medic
- New York
- New York City
- Vicky Gregg
Riley Parker
“After 9/11, I became entirely distrustful. Knowing that they wanted to kill me, and more importantly, my family. I mean, it did what it was intended to do, which was put terror in our hearts.”
- Chattanooga
- Fear
- Mother
- Rebecca Parker
- Tennessee
Jiayi Li
“Previously, I thought that only socialist nations, such as China and the USSR, were able to mobilize their civil servants, including police, firefighters and soldiers, in such a way that they would devote themselves for the greater good at any cost, irrespective of their own security. Now I learned that people in capitalist nations could do the same thing.”
- Censorship
- China
- Shenzhen
- Wei Shen
David Carroll
“Everyone was shocked by the violence. It’s just that you could see that there was a bit of a microexpression, where you realized that they were satisfied that we finally had to deal with something difficult.”
- Brazil
- John Carroll
- Terrorism Analyst
Jiahao Guo
“And I remember being in the shower, thinking this is so horrible: the day that my baby is born is the day the father died.”
- Barbara McGregor
- Mexico
- Mexico City
- Mother
- Pregnant
Ben Caldwell
“I remember growing up thinking that America was the strongest nation in the world. It’s what we were all taught and it’s what we’d seen in history. I think that after 9/11 I didn’t believe that anymore.”
- Ann Caldwell
- Chattanooga
- Military
- Mother
- Tennessee
Ryan McGregor
“We continued walking, and when we were about two blocks away, that’s when I heard the noise. It was a loud rumble, and as I looked back, I saw all the dust coming towards us, so we then ran like hell.”
- Alberto McGregor
- Firsthand
- Survivor
Ali Shafi
“…in the midst of shootings and bombings being synonymous with Islam, it is our duty to stand against the hate and show them the true nature of a true Muslim.”
- Abdul Basit
- Clemson
- Imam
- Muslim
- South Carolina
David Johnson
“Well, it’s a little crazy around here, but not as messed up as it’s about to get for you in two hours. We’re relocating the President to Offutt Air Force Base. Do you have any issues with that?”
- Nebraska
- Omaha
- Paul Johnson
- President
- Secret Service
Interviewers
Interviewers
Ali Shafi graduated from McCallie in 2017, then majored in International Relations and Spanish at American University in Washington, D.C., where he was editor-in-chief of The Rival. He is currently a law student at Boston College.
Andreas Sillaste ’23 is a rising senior from Oulu, Finland. In addition to being an excellent student in APUSH, this past year he was the top-ranked player on McCallie’s undefeated tennis team, which last weekend won its third consecutive state title and is ranked number one in the nation.
Andrew Landsbergen graduated from McCallie in 2018 and is currently a student at Yale University.
Ani Harsha is a junior day student from Chattanooga.
Ben Caldwell graduated from McCallie in 2017, then majored in English at Davidson College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. A talented artist, Ben lives in Charlotte, where he teaches 8th grade English.
Bennett Brock graduated from McCallie in 2020 and is currently a student at the University of Georgia.
Boden Brindell graduated from McCallie in 2020 and now lives in New York City, where he is a student at Columbia University.
Chase Hamelink graduated from McCallie in 2019 and is now majoring in Chemistry at Davidson College.
Christopher Wiley graduated from McCallie in 2021. He is a freshman at Vanderbilt University.
Cole Nevins is a junior boarding student from Atlanta.
Colin Carter ’23 is a junior boarding student from Shreveport, Louisiana.
Colin Chen graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is currently a student at the University of California at San Diego, where he is majoring in Cognitive Science.
Connor Quinn graduated from McCallie in 2017 and from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2021. He is an advertising copywriter in St. Louis for Momentum Worldwide.
Conor Kinley graduated from McCallie in 2021 and is a freshman at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is on the swim team and majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Creative Writing.
Cotton Snoddy is a junior boarding student from New York.
David Carroll graduated from McCallie in 2018. He is currently a student at Pomona College in California.
David Johnson graduated from McCallie in 2019 and enrolled at Southern Methodist University, where he is a Provost’s Scholar and is double majoring in Psychology and Economics.
Davis Little, a boarding student from Atlanta, graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is currently a student at William and Mary, where he is studying History and Public Policy.
Duke H. Richey graduated from McCallie in 2020 and is majoring in Environment and Sustainability at The University of the South in Sewanee.
Erol House ‘23 is a rising senior at McCallie.
Evan Ellinger graduated from McCallie in 2017 and from the University of Georgia in 2021. He lives in Atlanta, where he works as an underwriter for Chubb Insurance.
Grayson Trowbridge was a four-year boarding student at McCallie. He graduated in 2021 and is now a Biology major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ian Campbell, recently named a National Merit Semifinalist, is a senior day student from Chattanooga.
Ibrahim Aslam graduated from McCallie in 2015, then majored in Biology and Spanish at Mercer University. He works now for the AmeriCorps VISTA program in the Cochise County School Superintendent’s office and lives in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Jack Gentle graduated from McCallie in 2021 and is now a freshman at Harvard University.
Jacob Armstrong is a junior day student and a Michaels-Dickson Scholar from Chattanooga.
Jake Marcum graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is now at the University of Alabama, where he is a swimmer and a member of the All-Sec Academic Honor Roll. In the summer of 2021, he swam in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Jason Nuttle graduated from McCallie in 2021 and is currently completing his first year at Yale University, where he continues to pursue a passion for sculpture and is a member of Yale’s electric car racing team.
Jiayi Li graduated from McCallie in 2021. He is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jiahao Guo graduated from McCallie in 2016, then received both his bachelors and masters degrees (in mechanical engineering) within four years at Northwestern University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area and is an engineer at Neuralink.
Josh McBride graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is currently a student at the University of Georgia, where he is majoring in Business.
Luke Gilbert is a Michaels-Dickson Scholar and a senior boarding student from Charlotte, North Carolina. At McCallie, he is a member of the soccer team and is an RA in Pressly Hall, the freshman dormitory.
Mac Hunt graduated from McCallie in 2018. He is a student at Vanderbilt University, where he is majoring in African American and Diaspora Studies.
Mac Poston graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is currently studying kinesiology at the University of Central Florida.
Nate Armstrong is a junior day student from Chattanooga.
Nate DeStefano graduated from McCallie in 2018 and is currently a senior at the United States Air Force Academy.
Nathan Liu graduated from McCallie in 2015 and from The Ohio State University in 2019. He lives in Atlanta, where he is a financial analyst for Comcast.
Nathan Smartt is a Michaels-Dickson Scholar and a senior boarding student from Austin, Texas. At McCallie, he is a member of the soccer team and is an RA in Pressly Hall, the freshman dormitory.
Nelson Eiselstein graduated from McCallie in 2016, then attended Vanderbilt University on a full-academic scholarship as a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar. Today, he is on the faculty at McCallie, where he teaches math and coaches cross-country and track and field
Nelson Hayslett is a student at Wheaton College.
Niko Jackson graduated from McCallie in 2021 and is now a freshman at Colorado State University.
Parker Davidson is a junior at McCallie and a current student in APUSH. His is the first interview from the students in this 20th anniversary year of 2021 to be published on the website.
Ricky Wang-Polendo, a junior and a current student in APUSH, is a Michaels-Dickson scholar from Roseville, Minnesota.
Riley Parker graduated from McCallie in 2020. A National Merit Semifinalist, Riley won a full scholarship to the University of Alabama, where is pursuing degrees in Computer Science and Business.
Robbie Watkins graduated from McCallie in 2020 and is currently in his sophomore year at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Robert Cummings graduated from McCallie in 2020. He is currently a sophomore at the University of California in Berkeley, where he is majoring in Economics with a minor in Data Science and Public Policy.
Ryan McGregor graduated from McCallie in 2016, then majored in International Relations at Princeton University. He is an analyst now with Accenture and lives in Washington DC.
Sam Bennett graduated from McCallie in 2018 and is now in his senior year at the University of Southern California, where he is double majoring in Environmental Studies and Business, and serves as a brand ambassador for Beyond Meat.
Sultan Minhas graduated from McCallie in 2018. He is a senior at Emory University, where he is majoring in Political Science and Arabic.
Turner Davidson graduated from McCallie in May, 2021, after having finished at the top of his class in APUSH and winning the Daughters of the American Revolution prize in History. He is currently studying mechanical engineering at Northwestern University.
Vibin Vellanki, a junior and a current APUSH student, is a Michaels-Dickson scholar from Minnetonka, Minnesota. He is the current editor of this website.
Will Hunt graduated from McCallie in 2019 and is currently a student at Princeton University, where he is majoring in Politics and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
William Bolin graduated from McCallie in 2019 and is currently in his third year at the University of Virginia.
William Moseley graduated from McCallie in 2021 and is now a freshman at Colorado College.
William Trowbridge graduated from McCallie in 2020. He is now a rising junior in Duke University’s highly-selective Chinese program in Kunshan, China.
Will Parker graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is studying engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Will Philpott graduated from McCallie in 2019. He is a “third year,” aka a junior, at the University of Virginia.
W.M. graduated in 2015 from McCallie. He is now finishing his bachelor’s degree at Harvard and plans to go into biomedical research after college.
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Father Brad Whitaker serves at the rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Chattanooga. Twenty years ago, he was living and working in New Jersey and served as a Chaplain at Trinity Church at Ground Zero after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He spoke to Upper School students during Chapel on Friday, September 10, 2021.
Watch his talk here: