Scene
in Shaker
Caleigh Leiken was born
on September 11, 2001 in
New York City. Today, she’s
helping a generation of her peers
understand the events
and remember those who
lost their lives that day.
By Jennifer Kuhel
As a small child, Caleigh Leiken had
a sense that adults connected with her
birthday in a way that she didn’t. She
couldn’t fully comprehend why the fact
that she was born in New York City on
September 11, 2001 was remarkable.
Of course today, as an 18-year-old
young adult, she understands. And she is
committed to helping others her age do the
same. Just last month, she coordinated an
assembly at Shaker Heights High School,
where she is a senior, with the help of the
9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York
City. The assembly included a live video
with World Trade Center survivors and
first responders, as well as a Q&A session
with Megan Jones, the Senior Director of
Education Programs at the 9/11 Memorial
and Museum. Jones is also a graduate of
Shaker Heights High School.
“My whole life, I’ve had people telling
me that something significant happened
on my birthday,” she says. “And because
I have that connection, I wanted to do
something here in Shaker so that other
people can understand.”
Caleigh’s own understanding begins
with her parents’ emotional story as
A Birthday to Remember
09.11.01
New Yorkers witnessing the tragedy first-hand. At the time, Caleigh’s father, Jonathan,
worked near Times Square, but her mother, Erika, who was eight-and-a-half months
pregnant, worked only two blocks from the World Trade Center. Erika saw the fires and
witnessed the collapse of the second tower. She was among the stunned and terrified
thousands who walked north, along the river, to return home. In the meantime,
Jonathan had been waiting for hours at the couple’s Upper East Side apartment without
any method of communication.
When Erika finally returned home, the stress of the walk combined with the trauma
had put her into labor. The two immediately got into a cab and headed to the hospital,
only to be stopped at police roadblocks. The police then escorted the Leikens through
Central Park, but when they arrived at the hospital, they were told they couldn’t be seen:
The hospital was waiting for victims. After explaining to hospital personnel that Erika
was in labor, the hospital admitted her. Soon it was clear there would be no victims and
Caleigh was born just a few hours later.
Caleigh’s understanding grew deeper this past spring, when she visited the 9/11
Memorial and Museum in New York City with her dad and her younger brother. For her,
the experience was memorable and life-changing.
She took a VIP tour of the museum, which meant that she could participate in the
daily morning Birthday Rose Ceremony, where a white rose is placed near the inscribed
name of a victim who would have celebrated a birthday on that day.
“It was eye-opening for me that I would celebrate my birthday on a day when so
many people died,” she says. That connection spurred her to reach out to Jones, which
ultimately led to Caleigh’s planning the assembly at Shaker Heights Hish School as the
Memorial’s first out-of-state educational ambassador.
“I realized that this day is one that’s so important to my parents and to so many
others for so many reasons,” Caleigh says. “There was nothing I could have done on
September 11, but I know that now, I can do something to help the generation who didn’t
experience what happened that day to understand it as I do.” SL
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