The College’s Student Government Association remembered the events of Sept. 11, 2001 last week by setting up a display in the Student Center Atrium. Students could take a free pin to wear during the week and write letters to troops. A flag waved over the table with the words, “We Remember...” emblazoned on it.
The Signal Staff Remembers
I live in a really, really rural part of New Jersey. When I heard about the at- tacks on the World Trade Center in the hallway of my middle school, my sixth- grade self didn’t make the connection that the twin towers and World Trade Center were interchangeable. I’d never been to the city. I also didn’t realize that I should be concerned for my uncle, who worked in part of the World Trade Center, just not the towers. He was ok, luckily, but I know it was a frightening day for my aunt, my mother and my grandparents.
— Katie Brenzel
Nine years ago, I remember being in my seventh grade English class when the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred. I’ve heard stories that many students weren’t notified until hours later about what happened, but our teacher turned on the television in the room and we were allowed to watch. Throughout the day, all my classes just blurred together. No one was paying attention to school. Everyone was just talking amongst themselves about what happened in NewYork. Myschoolevengaveusthedayoffthenextdaysowecouldbewith our families and friends.
— Jeffrey Roman
I was just a few days into the fifth grade. I remember hearing at school that something had happened, but it wasn’t until I got home that I found out what. My mom told me, and I was saddened and scared, but mostly shocked. At 10, I couldn’t grasp why or how anyone could be so indescribably heartless. Today, I understand what happened a little more clearly, but the shock remains.
— Juliana Fidler
Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was in class ironically learning about American history when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I remember throughout the course of the day students began mysteriously disappearing from class as concerned parents pulled them out of school. During recess, we were told that we couldn’t go outside because there were bees and it could be dangerous. Needless to say I felt blindsided when I got home from school that day.
— Todd Petty
I was in sixth grade in 2001 — 11-year-olds had to wait until they got home to find out what happened. Kids who, like my youngest cousins, either weren’t born yet or don’t remember it, will have to wait even longer to really grasp what 9/11 was — and even then, they’ll never know it the way we do. Having seen it on TV and in the papers, our generation has the unfortunate distinction of knowing what it’s like to watch a tragedy unfold.
— Matt Huston
This past Saturday, I searched Google to try and locate information about national moment of silence for the horrors of Sept. 11. I did not find anything concrete, so around 2 p.m., I stood up in my room, bowed my head and had my own little memorial for those who have been affected directly or indirectly by such senseless acts of absolute hate. I try to take a minute or two each year and reflect on my memories of the day — the news broadcasts, the hearsay and my mother waiting at the bus stop to explain what happened.
— Bobby Olivier
All I felt was a sense of mild confusion when I saw the expression on my teacher’s face change from happy to alarmed to grim as an aid whispered into her ear during the middle of a lecture. One boy in my school lost his dad and when I came home the news was on and my dad’s face was fixated on the screen. He told me this was going to change our world, and he was right. 9/11 has changed us in the biggest and littlest ways. Who doesn’t shudder a little inside after checking the clock and seeing that the time reads “9:11”?
— Laura Herzog
I was learning how to mulitpy fractions in seventh grade when the world changed forever. When my teacher told us that something had happened in New York, but not to worry, I innocently raised my hand and asked, “But not near the World Trade Center, right? That’s where my dad works.” I will always remem- ber the broken look she gave me — it changed my perception of the world for- ever. My uncle tore all of the muscles in his knee running down the stairs in the second tower — many of the co-workers he couldn’t convince to leave died that day. And whenever his knee hurts him, he always says, “That’s what reminds me that the world has changed.”
— Caroline Russomanno
