A piece of World Trade Center steel now belongs to SUNY Maritime College, the state's maritime academy at Fort Schuyler on the tip of Throggs Neck. The FDNY presented it to the college on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and it will be built permanently into the 9/11 Boatlift Monument the college is planning on its waterfront campus.

What the monument remembers

On Sept. 11, 2001, boats carried people off Lower Manhattan by water. The college counts more than 500,000 people rescued that day by thousands of mariners, and describes it as the largest boatlift in history.

The monument is planned for the spot on campus where students stood in 2001 and watched the attacks unfold across the harbor. The effort to build it is being led by current students, most of whom were born after 2001.

How it is being paid for

The college is raising money for the full project: design, construction, signage, landscaping and lighting, a dedication ceremony and a long-term fund to maintain the monument. Donations can be made through the college's giving site. No dedication date has been announced.

The college president first told the campus about the steel in his Sept. 28 message, and the college marked the donation in an Oct. 8 news post.

A busy October at Fort Schuyler

The steel arrived during a strong stretch for the school. Its Oct. 3 Open House drew 440 prospective students and family members, the largest in ten years, according to the president's Oct. 5 message. On Oct. 6, the college named Bethann Burke its new athletic director; she brings more than 13 years of NCAA Division II leadership experience, most recently at Goldey-Beacom College in Delaware.

About the campus

SUNY Maritime sits on 55 waterfront acres where the East River meets Long Island Sound, in the shadow of the Throgs Neck Bridge. The college is housed at historic Fort Schuyler.

How to follow along or give

Updates on the monument and the giving page are on the college's website, sunymaritime.edu, under Giving.

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