Mount St. Mary’s University Graduate Thomas Sullivan Receives Young Alumni Award

Emmitsburg, Md. — Thomas Sullivan, of Breezy Point, N.Y., is the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Young Alumni Award, presented by the Mount St. Mary’s University National Alumni Association.

The purpose of the award is to make the graduating senior class aware of alumni who through hard work, perseverance and education have reached a high level of achievement in their chosen professions. The award also honors graduates who have brought honor and distinction to their alma mater by their success, interest and support of the Mount through the National Alumni Association.

Sullivan, a 1993 graduate of Mount St. Mary’s, is a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, and is currently serving in Iraq as commander of the 773^rd Transportation Company at Q-West, a Reserve Unit from Queens, N.Y. He is a survivor of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Sullivan was working at Fiduciary Trust, in the South Tower of the World Trade Center, at the time of the attacks. He witnessed the first plane hit the North Tower and knew at once that he and his colleagues needed to evacuate. He began directing people down the long 95 flights of stairs to the ground floor.

Ignoring an announcement over the building’s intercom system that the South Tower itself had not been hit, and that everything was safe, Sullivan continued to urge people down the stairs. He stopped to help a woman who was having trouble breathing, and did not leave her side until they had reached safety on the street below. The journey from Floor 95 to the ground below took almost 50 minutes. About 10 minutes into their descent, the second plane hit the South Tower, causing the whole building to shake and debris to fall from the ceilings.

Once Sullivan reached safety, he walked to the Staten Island Ferry, with the throngs of evacuees from the buildings, only to find it closed. At that time he, and countless others, began the long trek over the Brooklyn Bridge towards safety, and home. More than two hours after the first plane hit, he was finally able to locate a pay phone and let his family know he was safe.

But the story of Thomas Sullivan does not end there. Having been an Army Reservist since his graduation from Mount St. Mary’s and commissioning in 1993, Sullivan knew that he was being called to serve his country. The weekend immediately following the attacks, he traveled back to Ground Zero to assist in the relief efforts, one of the hardest things he has ever done, he said. In early 2002 he was sent to Fort Dix, N.J., for eight months of training. Re-activated in January 2006, his unit was sent to Iraq in April, and is scheduled to return home in April 2007.

For his unwavering loyalty to our country, his genuine courage and heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, the National Alumni Association presented Sullivan with the award on Feb. 8, 2007, at the Class of 2007 Young Alumni Dinner, an event during which the graduating class is officially welcomed into the National Alumni Association. Sullivan’s wife, Debbie, and their three children, Sean and Jack (5) and Grace (2), accepted the award on his behalf. Also in attendance were his parents, Russ and Ursula, of Rockaway, N.Y., and his sister-in-law, Meghan Ruane.

Mount St. Mary’s University, founded in 1808, is the second oldest Catholic university in America.

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