Anyone in their mid-30s or older can likely recall exactly where they were when they heard about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Current high school students, though, weren’t even born yet when the disasters took place in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Less than two weeks ago, the nation reflected on the 25th anniversary of the unfortunate happenings that day.

And while teenagers didn’t live through the fears and anxious feelings that many were going through at the time, they have learned about it through older adults and other forms of media.

Two Northwestern football players, along with a few other Tiger athletes, recently decided to recognize the significance of the silver anniversary by participating in their version of the 9/11 Stair Challenge.

As part of the nationwide tradition, participants climb the equivalent of 110 stories — somewhere over 2,000 steps — which was the height of the World Trade Center towers. The event is believed to have started in 2005 when five off-duty Colorado firefighters went up 110 stories in a Denver high-rise in memory of the New York firefighters.

The challenge has grown over time, and has now reached the bleachers at Tiger Stadium.

“I heard about it, just over the years hearing about it,” said Logan Grubb, a Northwestern junior lineman. “I have Coach (Dave) Kerschner in my first block and he showed us a really sad video about Welles Crowther, a lacrosse player for Boston College. He helped a bunch of people (in the South Tower before dying when it collapsed).

“Going into gym class, the block afterward, I saw (teammate and friend) Rhonin (Jonassaint) and I was like, ‘Dude, we should do this ...We just decided we’re outside by the stairs, we might as well see if we can do it just to see what it was like and know what all those people were going through climbing up and down the stairs.”

Jonassaint, also a junior who’s a wide receiver and defensive back, admits that Grubb talked him into doing the challenge.

He’s glad he did.

“Logan Grubb actually brought up that he saw other schools doing it on Instagram, Facebook, like that, and he said he wanted to try to do it,” said Jonassaint. “And he convinced me to do it too.

“I pretty much just got talked into it. I know it’s like a big event for the United States, so I thought it would be cool to show my contribution to it by doing that.”

Despite being in shape and young, the challenge did prove to be just that.

And it definitely created appreciation for what the firefighters that day went through.

“It was really rough,” said Grubb. “Over the summer, Coach Kerschner, for our linemen workout has us doing the bleachers, so I thought maybe it would be a bit easier but it’s real tough just going up and down, even having the mental fortitude to keep going up and down, and up and down.

“And just the amazing thing about what all those firefighters had to go through. Like they had 40-pound gear or something too (and we didn’t). It’s just horrible having to climb all that with 40-pound gear, and then you have to save people. It’s real dedication from those firefighters who are heroes that saved all those people.”

Jonassaint also found it difficult, but has thoughts of pushing it even more in the future.

“I just started doing it. We got out there, I didn’t even stretch, I just started going up the stairs. Honestly, it was pretty tough to do, because I didn’t take any breaks and just kept going. I did not expect it to be that tough. It’s pretty cool knowing how I did that and struggled to do it, but people did it in 30- to 40-pound fire gear. It was a pretty cool experience, knowing sort of what they had to do.

“I’m actually planning on trying it next year, and then seeing if I could get the full firefighting equipment to see if I could to it that way.”

Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder admitted he didn’t even know it was happening until after the fact, but hinted it may be something his team takes on down the road.

“I didn’t even know it was going on. It happened during gym class, and a couple kids brought it up and volunteered to do it,” said Snyder, who was a college senior that late summer morning. “To see kids remembering it, it’s a big deal. It’s kind of neat ... to have a couple guys on the team (do it). Probably if we would have known if that was going on, we could have made it a little bit bigger, and maybe that’s something we can build on for next year.”

No matter what, the challenge continues to bring attention and details to a day that will never be forgotten.

And it teaches today’s youth about the importance of 9/11.

“You know a decent amount just from how much you’re taught about it in school and the people in your lives,” said Grubb. “It’s one of those moments where people say you know exactly where you were when it happened. I remember my dad was telling me he was at a gas station when it happened, and my mom was at work. Even like coming to school on Sept. 11, usually your whole day is dedicated to learning about that.”