Schools

Students Learn Lessons of 9/11

Too young to remember that day, this year's crop of eighth-graders still feels the effects of 9/11.

They were too young to remember when it happened. The day the Twin Towers tumbled and four suicide hijackings brought terrorism to American soil, they were just 3 years old.

Raven Baker, an eighth-grader at , said she watched the towers fall with her grandmother that day in 2001, but doesn’t remember.

“She said my dad called her and told her to turn on the TV,” Raven said. “I was with her [when it happened].”

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Eighth-grade social studies teachers marked the somber event — the 10th anniversary of the attacks — by giving students a special assignment. Each pupil had to interview an adult, whether it was a teacher, coach, parent or friend, about their recollections from Sept. 11, 2001.

Thirteen-year-old Danielle Nelson interviewed her mom.

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“She was a sixth-grade teacher at the time,” Danielle said. “She was in her class … and they brought a TV into the room.”

According to her mother, the students didn’t seem afraid. “They were mostly curious,” Danielle said. “They wanted to know what was going on.”

Students viewed a video detailing the attacks, then headed out into a hallway dedicated to the victims and heroes of 9/11. Listed on the wall were the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.

“Does anyone know someone [on the list]?” teacher Kristy Caywood asked, before pointing out a name to her students.

“That’s my friend,” she said, pointing to the name of David Suarez, who was a fraternity brother of Caywood’s husband. He worked in the World Trade Center.

“It’s disturbing how big it is,” Raven said of the list. “It’s very sad to feel for the families who lost someone.”

They might have been young when the planes crashed on that September day, but the students said they’ve been touched by what happened.

“[I’ve watched] some of the shows that have been on TV,” eighth-grader Marie Delafuente said. “I remember seeing a witness video of the second plane going into the building. That definitely stayed with me.”

“Just to watch video of it, it’s really shocking,” Raven said. “It’s disturbing to think that something like that could happen.”

Pledging to stop hate

The school’s 9/11 events weren’t just about remembrance; students also took action, with many signing an optional , the driving force behind the attacks, Caywood said.

“It’s about that hatred — hatred for other people and hatred for other cultures,” she said.

The pledge reads, in part, “I pledge from this day onward to do my best to interrupt prejudice and to stop those who, because of hate, would hurt, harass, or violate the civil rights of anyone. I will try at all times to be aware of my own biases against people who are different from myself. I will ask questions about cultures, religions and races that I don't understand. I will speak out against anyone who mocks, seeks to intimidate, or actually hurts someone of a different race, religion, ethnic group or sexual orientation.”

All three girls signed the pledge. Raven said she didn’t hesitate.

“I was raised without hate and just to be tolerant of everyone,” she said.

“It just sort of makes me think about how everyone’s different,” Marie said. “And we should be respecting of each other.”


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