Ball State students, staff remember 9/11 15 years later

Drew Becker, junior elementary education major

"I was in kindergarten. I remember coming home from school to my babysitter and I remember [the attack] being on the news and then one of the girls that was at the babysitter’s with me, her mom brought over a video of it and this is crazy," Becker said. "She had pulled up a picture and the smoke of the Twin Towers had formed an outline of the devil and for some reason, that’s like what’s been the most prominent thing that stuck out to me."

Tyler Hall, junior telecommunications major

"I was in first grade, so around seven," Hall said. "I remember I was at school and I think there was an announcement and eventually we all left school early that day."

Oyinda Bamgbola, first-year psychology graduate student

"I was 7 years old when it happened. I [later] learned about 9/11 through my history classes. We talked about the events and what happened," Bamgbola said. "Actually, at that time I was Muslim and my parents [were] Muslim and my mom was here before me, so she knew about it. She was already here so I kind of heard about the distrust of Muslims and how they were treated after that ... So I was kinda glad that I wasn’t here then because I feel like students would have reacted differently towards me. I didn’t really vocalize I was Muslim at that time during classes just because I knew there’s still some underlying tension."

Muhannad Alderaan, senior business administration major

"I was 13 years old. I don’t remember exactly because I wasn’t here," said Alderaan, who is Muslim. "When I first came here I felt like everyone was going to hate me, but that wasn’t true. I heard it from the media and it was so terrible. Like when I saw everything in the media like a week after the day it happened, but it was so terrible and I don’t believe that it should happen to anyone."

Keonna Slaughter, freshman nursing major

"I was 3," Slaughter said. "I just remember my family being shocked. My sister was older than me so she was kinda scared and she was only maybe 9. And my mom was panicking and actually wouldn’t let me go outside and play."

Justin Myrick, freshman music media production major

"I believe [I was] about maybe 2 or 3," Myrick said. "My dad told me where he was when it happened. He saw, at first he thought it was like a movie and then he realized, ‘Oh no, this is like, this is actually happening in real life.’ He told me, I can’t remember what state it was, but he did tell me where he was and when he was watching it all go down."

Bria Matemane, sophomore statistics major

"Yikes, I was like 4. All I remember was we ... went up to do our assignment, or whatever they had us do on a computer back then. My mom was a secretary at my school so like my mom was talking to one of the teachers and they weren’t necessarily freaking out, but I could tell something was wrong," Matemane said. "I do remember that it was very shocking."

Peighton Cook, freshman undecided major

“I think I was 4. I remember my mom leaving work early to pick me up from daycare and we went home and I remember her being upset, but I was too young to understand what was going on," Cook said.

Advaith Srikanth, senior public relations major

“All I really remember was I was in class and we were just learning our lesson or whatever and then next thing you know the teacher turned on the television," Srikanth said. "I remember seeing all the mayhem. I just knew it was a big issue. I could tell something bad happened, everyone was crying."

Malissa Tong, doctoral piano student

“I think I was in the sixth grade or fifth grade — I’m actually from New York. I was in school and I just remember my dad called my mom to get the kids out of school because we weren’t sure what was going on," Tong said. "I remember a few classmates who had parents working in the city, so that was like, ‘Oh my god is my mom OK?’ kinda thing while we were in class. My dad works in the city, he’s an engineer, but that day fortunately, he was out fishing. So he was out in the water when he saw the planes hit and whatnot. But then after that we didn’t see him for three weeks, because all the engineers in the downtown area worked together to get things up and running again as quickly as possible."

Alyssa Montgomery, senior speech pathology major

“[My memory of the day] is kinda muddy — I’m pretty sure I was in school when it happened and we got let out early," Montgomery said. "My uncle Chris was in New York when it happened, so he pretty much witnessed it. But I don’t really remember a whole lot, but I'm pretty sure it was a devastating experience for my family since my uncle was in New York when it happened.”

Amy Clevenger, office coordinator for the Center of Information and Communication

“I was 37," Clevenger said. "I remember receiving a phone call from a concerned relative who was watching it unfold on television. Then we turned on televisions here and we continued to watch it unfold and it seemed very unreal."

Sean Hildebrand, American national government professor

“I get through the drive-thru [at McDonald's] and I’m in rush hour traffic in Baltimore. I get through [a] tunnel and it literally closes in my rearview mirror. They shut everything down and from Baltimore to Newark. I [drove] the whole way listening to all this stuff on the radio and I get to my apartment," Hildebrand said. "One roommate was there and they’re watching stuff on TV and I walked in as the second tower fell and nobody knew where I was because I didn’t have a cell phone; I had recently broken it. So, everyone said, ‘Oh my god, you’re alive. We didn’t what was going on.'"