Question 3

Question 3  What do you remember about that day - September 11, 2001

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the numbness I felt that day and for many days after, the sadness, the papers flying out the windows. Bodies flying in the air as they jumped.

I remember none of our teachers would tell us what was going on and we had to wait until we got home to see it on the news.

I remember being in my 5th grade classroom, watching the airplanes hit and the twin towers fall live on television.

everything...

I was teaching at Clary Middle School, and my classroom was out in the "trailers" or mobile classroom units. We were celebrating one of my student's birthdays; her name was Maria and I had made a birthday cake. I can still see exactly how Maria looked that day in my mind: she was wearing a short denim dress and her hair was in a ponytail with a bunch of lollipops sticking out of it. My TA, Miss Hennessy had gone to the office to run an errand, and when she returned she looked shocked. As the kids sat at their desks eating birthday cake, Miss Hennessy fiddled around with the TV in the back of the room, being careful to turn the entire TV cart away from the students' view. A few minutes later I would discover the alarming and surreal reality of what was happening Live on TV. She whispered "Mr. Kenah (the principal) was watching the news in his office and look what is happening in New York City." The class started gathering around us and the TV as we watched a plane fly into the South Tower of the World Trade center in disbelief. It was like watching a movie-but it wasn't a movie. A little while later, there was a fire drill which was actually a bomb scare that someone had called in to the main office, and the whole school had to go outside into the parking lot. It was so eerie because nobody really knew what was happening.

I remember being in my social studies class and my teacher running out of the room to cry. I was in 6th grade and did not fully comprehend what was happening.

The shock of the whole situation. Being at work and talking to coworkers & students about the events.

I was in 4th grade. I remember the principal came over the loud speaker and informed us that school would be closing early that day. I remember going home and not understanding everything that was going on but saw my parents sadness. My aunt works in Manhattan and I remember my father trying to get ahold of her. I can't believe it was 18 years ago; that doesn't seem possible.

I was 11 and was getting ready for school. I saw it on the TV on my way out the door. I didn't think much of it, almost like it was a movie. The news wasn't big in my house and my parents didn't comment on what was happening. We went about our day as if nothing had happened. A few days later the teachers talked with us about it, but the fear that my New York co-workers felt could never truly be portrayed correctly. It felt much like when they spoke about wars in other countries, something to feel sad for but without the first hand experience I was lacking the basis for complete understanding of the significance.

Sitting in the laboratory and watching the events unfold and an evacuation of our facilities amid concerns our facility could be targeted. Trying and not being able to reach family in lower Manhattan. Wondering how our country would recover.

I was teaching at Levy Middle School and I had just taken a student who had missed breakfast to our custodian's office to find him something to eat. As we entered the cafeteria, the custodian came running from his office into the cafeteria and yelled to me that I had to see what was happening on his TV. I arrived just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the tower. I felt horrified and I knew in an instant that life as we knew it would never be the same again. I also became concerned because our school had just enrolled a group of Muslim students and the females wore traditional clothing. I worried about how they would be treated by other children and adults because they would be seen as representing the "enemy". We had a staff discussion and some of us volunteered to ride the yellow buses for a couple of weeks after 9/11.

I was homeschooling that day when my mom called and told me to turn on the TV. School halted at that point, and we watched events unfold. We went to an impromptu church prayer meeting that evening.

It was my 4th day on the job as a teacher in SCSD. The teachers lounge was right across the hall and I heard many teachers yelling and screaming. We had a TV in the teachers lounge so some were in there and saw the events of that day taking place. When the bell rang I walked across the hall and stood watching as the second plane hit the tower in disbelief! At that moment, many of us went back to our classrooms and turned the TV's on and watched as the towers ultimately collapsed. Students and staff were scared, most were concerned for not only their students but their own families safety. I remember think,ing we are under attack! I remember thinking to myself, now what?


I remember a teacher motioning me to come look out a hallway window at my school. I looked out and their in the distance was a hole in one of the towers of the World Trade Center. It was my very first week teaching high school students. My very first week of being a teacher. What should do, we both wondered. We decided to go to the administration. They put in a school wide lockdown drill. A little while later, somebody informs me that other tower was hit. I am in the hallway near the staff bathrooms. A fellow teacher, comes out, she sees me and walks towards me, and faints in my arms. I found later she had seen the second plane go through the other tower. An hour later I pass by the glass windows of the principal's office. A student was inconsolable, tears flowing. I find out she worked in the restaurant on the top floor of the tower, that had collapsed. I couldn't imagine knowing all my coworkers had suddenly perished. I pushed thoughts like these out, and tried to remember, I have to remain calm around the students. My cellphone rings, someone calls from home, are you ok they ask? The tension was high, student anxiety rising and it was all we could do as staff to keep students come. At 6pm they let us release the students. I walk out of the building do I take subways, no one is they tell me, its long way home to walk. I could hear a pin drop on 14th street. How eerie, NYC, the city the never sleeps is silent. I head down the subways stairs.