Young aviation managers – tomorrow’s leaders – continue to show they can extract lessons from the stories of 9/11’s aviation heroes and apply them to meet challenges in their personal and professional lives.
The Human Resiliency Institute at Fordham University, Airports Council International – North America and sponsor SSP America partnered in 2025 to expand the “Reclaiming the Sky” Resiliency Program to build on gains from the first two years of the program and help aviation’s future leaders hone their resiliency skills.
Young Professionals, those under forty years of age who work in middle management jobs at airports and airport service companies across the US and Canada, were invited to read the stories of aviation heroes profiled in the book, “Reclaiming the Sky,” by Tom Murphy, and participate in a workshop with aviation mentors to explore the lessons of resiliency.
As a follow up, they were offered a chance to compete in an essay competition to express what they learned. Three winners were announced this week and will be presented with their awards of $1000, $500 and $250 at the 2025 ACI-NA & ACI World Annual General Assembly, Conference and Exhibition.
The winners selected by a panel of aviation leaders are First Place: Tori Carroll, Security and Badging Special at Syracuse Regional Airport Authority; Second Place: Matthew Hall, Procurement Manager at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District; and Third Place, Allison Gilbert, HR Business Partner, Metropolitan Airports Commission, St Paul, Minnesota.
Their winning stories can be read at ReclaimingTheSky.com.
Young Professionals were given free Ebook copies of “Reclaiming the Sky” and a chance to read the stories of airport and airline employees who came to work in New York, Boston and Washington, DC on the morning of 9/11 expecting a normal day, only to find that “just doing my job” was to become the creed of heroes. The stories tell how the front-line aviation employees responded with courage, selflessness and resiliency that day and in the weeks and months that followed to rebuild their lives and reclaim hope – while helping to get the country moving again.
The top award, the “Susan M. Baer Award,” is named for Susan Baer who was General Manager of Newark Liberty Int’l Airport on 9/11.
In addition to cash prizes, first, second and third place essay winners have earned free registration to ACI-NA’s annual conference in Toronto in October to meet with today’s leaders and build their network of aviation contacts.
The project, which supports the development of the next generation of aviation leaders, is planned for expansion in 2026 as part of commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
The program included 25 young professionals who spent time reading and writing about the events of September 11th and the resiliency by leaders in the years since.
Thank you to the judges Cedrick Fulton, Virginia Buckingham, Erin Humphreys, Jennifer Juul, Debbie Roland, and Toni Knisley who worked tirelessly to judge the essay contest.
For more information, visit ReclaimingTheSky.com. For airports and aviation companies looking to participate in the expansion in 2026, contact Tom Murphy at Tom@edge4vets.org.