{"id":86441,"date":"2026-01-15T18:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=86441"},"modified":"2026-01-15T20:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:03:50","slug":"stepping-up-for-fallen-heroes","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/stepping-up-for-fallen-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping Up for Fallen Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"
A recent graduate revives EWU\u2019s 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb.<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Few days in our nation\u2019s history<\/strong> can match the shock and horror of Sept. 11, 2001. As we approach the 25th anniversary of that dreadful morning, it\u2019s especially important that succeeding generations of Americans remember the attacks and, especially, the heroism of the firefighters and police officers who sacrificed their lives to save others.<\/p>\n

This fall, thanks in large part to Denise Quiroga \u201925, a student-turned-alumna who wasn\u2019t yet five years old in 2001, Eastern\u2019s 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb returned to the Cheney campus. The event challenges participants to complete a strenuous stair assent in remembrance of the New York City firefighters and police officers who rushed into the burning twin towers \u2014 some of whom climbed as many as 110 flights of steps \u2014 in an attempt to reach trapped office workers and visitors.<\/p>\n

Quiroga, who graduated last June with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology, spearheaded the effort remotely in partnership with other members of Eastern\u2019s \u201cEasy Come, Easy Grow\u201d garden club. This year\u2019s climb, which originated in Dressler Hall before being halted due to Covid-19, was, at Quiroga\u2019s urging, relocated to Roos Field.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ROTC
ROTC Cadet Sergeant Major Cooper Thomas at the 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Photo by Aaron Weer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark Este, director of EWU community engagement, recently gave Quiroga a shout-out for her outstanding work. \u201cShe pulled in all these different campus departments, such as facilities, the police department, the veterans resource center, sustainability, community engagement, our office, to try to make this happen and get all the moving parts in place,\u201d Este says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really cool, collaborative effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roos Field proved to be an ideal fit for the event, in part thanks to the day\u2019s sunny skies and mild temperatures. Of the 100 people who attended, more than 50 participated in stair climbs and walks.
\nNathan Henson, captain at the Cheney Fire Department, turned out to Roos with several colleagues. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty excited to see this happening again,\u201d Henson said.<\/p>\n

Henson said firefighters and police rarely think of the dangers to themselves when they are serving their communities: Answering the call of those who need them simply comes as second nature to most first responders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [the memorial event] is a good reminder of why we do what we do,\u201d Henson says. \u201cA lot of times you don\u2019t think about the loss side of things; you are just going and doing a job because you enjoy doing it, and you enjoy serving your community.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent graduate revives EWU\u2019s 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":86443,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86441","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-campus","stories_tags-fall-winter-2025-26"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86676,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86441\/revisions\/86676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}