Honoring and Commemorating 9/11

(September 11, 2012) Students and teachers in several schools in the district wore Red, White and Blue, and principals, and teachers taught students lessons in patriotism, heroism, and in the higer grades--the historical events of 9/11--as part of the district’s efforts to honor the 11th anniversary of September 11th.

AT 8:46AM, RHS Principal David Wicks read the poem, "One", by Cheryl Sawyer, to the entire student body followed by a moment of silence.  For ten years following 9/11, and once again this year, the HS hung "its quilt" in the cafeteria for all to see and remember. It was made by students right after that terrible 9/11 event. Each block commemorates those who died in the attack or in some way expresses how that student was feeling at the time they fashioned their square. Each year it hangs in the cafeteria as a testimony to that effort to come to grips with the devastation of 9/11.

In the HS Social Studies classes, several teachers taught lessons related to 9/11. As he has every year since 9/11, Scott McKillop told his class about how his class received the announcement in school and watched in silence as the second plane hit the tower. He and his brother, Dave, raced to the scene as part of a firefighting unit from Long Island.

"I had been in many of those same buildings when I worked in the financial district," he explained to his class. "It was an unbelievable experience. No picture or video can really relay how devastating that scene really was. We talked to the firefighters and offered them assistance as they came off the pile. We listened to their stories. It was all in the air-- the ash and debris. If we stepped out into the street, it hit you. I couldn't even see my brother, who was just across the street from me. That day changed all of our lives--you're still living with the changes--even though you were just children at the time it happened."