Third Class of Museum Ambassadors Begins Tonight

The third class of the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Ambassador Program will meet for the first time this evening.  This group features 10 area high school students and a full year of weekly educational sessions that will run until May 25, 2016.  

Tonight’s session is an orientation featuring a welcome from Museum Director Alice Greenwald.  Greenwald, members of the first two classes, and current Ambassadors Gabriella Perallon and Ben DiFilippi were interviewed by National Public Radio for a story, which aired on the anniversary. The piece takes a look at the program and the challenges behind teaching 9/11 to high school students who were very young when the attacks occurred. Next week’s session is focused on the design of the Memorial and the Rebirth at Ground Zero installation. The third week is about the history of the World Trade Center, which includes a look at Minoru Yamasaki's design for the Twin Towers, the engineering innovations required to build the WTC such as the Slurry Wall and the elevator system, and why the Twin Towers might have been a target.

To date, 12 students have graduated from the program. Overall, hundreds of students have applied to be part of the after-school program. This expanded class features 10 students instead of six and will run for a full school year, instead of a single semester as the first two classes did.

By Anthony Guido, 9/11 Memorial Director of Communications