A single bang of a drum followed each name that Malvern Student Council President and Dave Bemer read at Monday’s chapel service in the theater of the school’s Rev. David J. Duffy, O.S.A. Arts Center, as he recited the names of the firefighters who lost their lives in the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

It has become tradition at Malvern Prep to honor those brave men and women of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with the chapel service and the presentation of a check each year for a scholarship fund at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, N.Y. The effort is organized by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Oechsle, Malvern faculty member and Active Life Member of the Norriton Fire Engine Company (NFEC). On behalf of the NFEC, Oechsle presented a check for $10,000 to Lt. Jim McCaffrey, FDNY, who is the father of the first recipient of the NFEC scholarship and brother-in-law of FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, the only firefighter to reach the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Orio began triage and rescue when the tower collapsed. Oechsle also presented a check for $1,000 from NFEC to Malvern in support of the school’s Christian service programs.

After September 11, 2001, the NFEC struggled to find the best way to help the victims of that tragedy. They decided that education was the best gift that they could give, and soon created a scholarship fund for the relatives of members of the FDNY killed on 9/11. Each year since then, a contingent of uniformed Norriton firefighters have joined Oechsle at the Malvern service in a show of brotherhood and support for the scholarship program.

Oechsle’s efforts are indicative of the spirit of service and volunteerism that pervades Malvern Prep and its Christian Service program. Malvern has three service weekends, during which students and faculty join to perform needed tasks for those less fortunate in the greater Philadelphia area. Events such as the C.A.R.E.S. (Cancer and Aids Reach Everyone Somehow) Walk raise money for local charities such as Best Nest, the Wellness Community, Siloam and the American Cancer Society. Malvern, with the generous help of the school’s Mother’s Club, collects Christmas presents for the children of Best Nest, an organization that helps families affected by AIDS, and hosts a Christmas party each year for these families.

Oechsle is front and center for Malvern’s Christian service programs. He brings a NFEC engine to the Best Nest Christmas Party for the children to ride, and he leads a contingent of Malvern seniors to Appalachia each spring for two weeks of intense service work. For Oechsle, his commitment to service is at the heart of Malvern’s educational mission.

“Education is not about how to make a living but to understand what life is all about,” Oechsle says. “A Malvern education teaches the obligation to give back and provides the opportunity to lead with an open mind and an open heart."

The FDNY memorial chapel service was an opportunity to show Malvern students the ultimate human sacrifice. Both Oechsle and guest speaker Dr. John Pryor, a University of Pennsylvania Hospital trauma surgeon who assisted in the rescue efforts after the buildings’ collapse, stressed in their remarks that each person at the chapel service might not be tested with such dire circumstances as the men and women of FDNY, but each person will be faced with their own “9/11 moment.” How they respond will define their character.

Many members of the Malvern community took turns reading the names of the firefighters lost on 9/11 before and after the service. The drum continued to bang for each one, as a film depicting scenes from that tragic day played on a screen behind the FDNY and NFEC firefighters assembled on the Duffy Center stage. At the end of the service the Rev. James Flynn, O.S.A., Malvern’s head of school, led the firefighters in prayer, and each one then rang a fire company bell five times in the symbolic calling of the firefighters home from their mission.

When the last bell clanged, the reading of the names continued. The FDNY and NFEC firefighters marched slowly off the stage. The drum resumed its solemn beat.