在9.11袭击事件发生几天之后，世界各地的人们就主动要求为受害者的子女提供帮助。如今，在人们的慷慨帮助下，这些孩子已长大成人并上大学深造，走上了成功的职业轨道。

“自由家庭奖学金基金”（The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund）为在9.11袭击事件中及其后遇难或终生残疾的受害者的有经济困难的亲属提供大学学费。政府、企业、基金会和个人都向该基金捐款，设在明尼苏达州（Minnesota）的一个名称为“美国奖学金”（Scholarship America）的非营利组织负责管理基金。

29岁的乔·帕隆博（Joe Palombo）是受益人之一。他的父亲生前是纽约市的一名消防队员，在9.11袭击发生后奋不顾身地冲进双子塔（Twin Towers）废墟中救助他人，并为此英勇献身。

帕隆博在父亲牺牲时只有12岁。他在全家10名子女中排行第三，兄弟姐妹最小的只有11个月，最大的15岁。他说，他在父亲牺牲后的一段时间里，学习非常吃力。而如今，他已于2013年从纽约的佩斯大学（Pace University）毕业，获得工商管理硕士学位，在新泽西州（New Jersey）的一家分析公司中担任会计。

帕隆博说，他全家人对他的支持是促使他成功的“一个有机部分”，而奖学金则帮助他在家人为他打下的根基上再上一层楼。他说：“捐赠者为我投资，所以我感到有责任在学校好好学习。”

奖学金使他能专心求学，不必在上大学期间打工挣钱。他说：“我毕业时没有欠学生贷款。”

在读本科期间，帕隆博到中国学习了两个星期，了解中国的商务文化，这为他将来从事需要到国外出差的职业提供了宝贵的经验。他在获得硕士学位不久后便受雇于一家公司并前往阿根廷，在那里利用他流利的西班牙语与公司的客户交流。

到目前为止，“自由家庭奖学金基金”已为3500名学生提供了1.524亿美元。该基金将一直运作到2030年，届时9.11事件受害者的最年幼的子女将完成大学学业。

献身于公益事业

18岁的玛格丽特·阿特伍德（Margaret Atwood）也是2001年9月11日在双子塔英勇献身的纽约市消防队员的子女。

她当时还是一名幼童。如今，在帮助了帕隆博的同一项基金的帮助下，她正在印第安纳州（Indiana）南本德（South Bend）附近的圣母大学（University of Notre Dame）开始大学生活。

阿特伍德的目标是获得工民建专业的学士学位。她父亲的英雄气概激励她想方设法地帮助别人，为世界做出贡献。她说，工程专业“能成为促成大变化的一小步”。她希望将来能从事设计供水和卫生基础设施的职业。

她说，她父亲的榜样力量帮助她确立了目标，而奖学金“则鼓励她实现目标，并给予她进一步努力的经济能力”。

Helping 9/11 families pay for college

Within days of the September 11 attacks, people all over the world offered help to the children of its victims. Now, thanks to that generosity, those children are grown up and pursuing higher education and successful career paths.

The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund is covering college tuition for financially needy dependents of those killed or permanently disabled in the attacks or their aftermath. Governments, corporations, foundations and individuals have donated to the fund, which is administered by a Minnesota-based nonprofit group called Scholarship America.

Joe Palombo, 29, is one beneficiary. His father was a New York City firefighter who rushed to the Twin Towers wreckage on 9/11 to save others. His bravery caused him to lose his own life.

Palombo was 12 years old when his father died. He was the third of 10 children, who ranged in age from 11 months to 15 years. For a time, he struggled academically after losing his dad, he says. But today, he’s a 2013 graduate of New York’s Pace University, with a master’s degree in business administration, working as an accountant at a New Jersey analytics firm.

Palombo cites his supportive family as “an integral part” of his success but says the scholarship helped him build on the foundation his family provided. Donors “were investing in me, so I felt it was my duty to do well in school,” he says.

The scholarship allowed him to concentrate on academics, rather than take a job during college. “And I graduated without student debt,” he says.

As an undergraduate, Palombo spent two weeks in China to learn about Chinese business culture — a valuable experience in preparing for a career that typically involves international travel. He was hired shortly after completing his master’s degree and has traveled to Argentina, where his firm has clients and he is able to put his fluent Spanish to use.

To date, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund has distributed $152.4 million to 3,500 students. The fund will operate through the year 2030, when the last of the 9/11 children will have completed college.

Building a life in service

Margaret Atwood, 18, is also the child of a New York City firefighter who sacrificed his life on September 11, 2001, at the Twin Towers.

She was barely a toddler at the time. Today, thanks to the same fund that helped Palombo, she is adjusting to college life at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, Indiana.

Atwood is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Her father’s heroism inspires her to find ways to help people, to make a difference in the world. And engineering, she says, “can be a small step towards a big change.” She hopes to pursue a career in which she designs infrastructure for water supply and sanitation facilities.

While her father’s example helped her formulate her goals, the scholarship “inspired me to reach them and financially enabled me to strive for more,” she says.