During a special teach-in on September 8, Natale was among eight speakers from the Quinnipiac community who shared their recollections of where they were and what they experienced on that day 25 years ago. Natale used her time to help give today’s Bobcats a view into how the Quinnipiac family came together during that time of tragedy and loss.

She said on that day a quarter century ago, Quinnipiac was enjoying beautiful sunny skies, much like the weather on the day of the September 8 teach-in.

“It was the type of day that makes you feel, ‘I’m happy to be alive,’” said Natale, who was serving as director of special events at that time.

“As I got settled into my office, I went out to talk to some of my colleagues. One person had a television in their office, and they said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. And as we watched, we saw the second plane hit,” Natale said. “Immediately, we all began to worry about the students here at Quinnipiac that might be impacted directly by what was happening in front of our eyes. We also started to worry about the need to donate blood for all the injuries that we thought were happening."

Natale said the priority was to give students access to what was happening in New York, Washington, D.C., and across the country, in a location where they could gather for support.

“We began to get TVs together to put into a common area, so that we could have a place for everybody to gather and hear what was going on. We also started to work with students by working with counseling services,” Natale said.

Quinnipiac’s bustling Mount Carmel Campus came to a halt as the community gathered to absorb the news.

“It was a quiet feeling all around campus,” Natale said.

That night, the Quinnipiac family gathered for a candlelight vigil and prayer service. The next day, Quinnipiac community members filled a non-denominational service offered by a local church.

“That church was packed with students, faculty and staff from Quinnipiac and people from the surrounding Hamden area. Everybody just wanted to be together and to have some sense of praying or helping in some spiritual way,” Natale said.

Gathering with the greater community was the start of a phenomenon which impacted the entire country. In the days that followed, “United We Stand” became a mantra, Natale said.

“We saw that on bumper stickers, on store windows, everywhere you went. People were decorating their cars with red, white and blue and United We Stand,” Natale said. “Everybody started coming together. It was definitely a different feeling than what we have today; and sometimes I hear people say they wish we could go back to what the country was feeling on September 12, 2001, because there was definitely a very big sense of unity.”