story9287.xml
Title
story9287.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-05-01
911DA Story: Story
I was in my classroom of 7th grade ESL students at Campbell Middle in Houston, Texas. They were from many Latin American countries; such as Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia and also from China and Korea.
The office secretary walked in with a red slip in her hand and I immediately thought something was wrong within the school. Her note read; "A tower in New York has been struck by a plane". My face must have reflected my confusion and dread. A plane hitting a tower in N. Y. as horrible as the thought is, is a lot different from it being a deliberate act followed by another at the Pentagon; my students asked, "What's the matter?" I said a plane has hit the towers in N. Y. City-but that is all I know."
By mid -afternoon when I was continuing with Spanish Language classes, I had one young girl ask if I thought they would come and attack us and I assured her that it seemed to me they were attacking the government and the area where most of the government buildings are either located or are near. I thought of the 2nd World War and how secure, at 7 years old, my parents and Pres. Roosevelt had made me feel. We lisened to the news and being raised in Corpus Christi, we heard the night practice flights, our black blinds drawn; found leaflets all over our yards in the mornings and then went off to school, Crossley Elementary, carrying our school bags and wearing dog tags with our family name on it. It never occurred to us, me at least, that that dog tag was my I. D. in case war broke out.
I also remembered the "under the desks drills" and how my teachers never spoke to us about the war and I offered to walk my young charge to her next class, talking all the time about how our own little community of Cy-Fair was safe. All the time with a lump in my throat and a terrified feeling in my stomach.
The office secretary walked in with a red slip in her hand and I immediately thought something was wrong within the school. Her note read; "A tower in New York has been struck by a plane". My face must have reflected my confusion and dread. A plane hitting a tower in N. Y. as horrible as the thought is, is a lot different from it being a deliberate act followed by another at the Pentagon; my students asked, "What's the matter?" I said a plane has hit the towers in N. Y. City-but that is all I know."
By mid -afternoon when I was continuing with Spanish Language classes, I had one young girl ask if I thought they would come and attack us and I assured her that it seemed to me they were attacking the government and the area where most of the government buildings are either located or are near. I thought of the 2nd World War and how secure, at 7 years old, my parents and Pres. Roosevelt had made me feel. We lisened to the news and being raised in Corpus Christi, we heard the night practice flights, our black blinds drawn; found leaflets all over our yards in the mornings and then went off to school, Crossley Elementary, carrying our school bags and wearing dog tags with our family name on it. It never occurred to us, me at least, that that dog tag was my I. D. in case war broke out.
I also remembered the "under the desks drills" and how my teachers never spoke to us about the war and I offered to walk my young charge to her next class, talking all the time about how our own little community of Cy-Fair was safe. All the time with a lump in my throat and a terrified feeling in my stomach.
Collection
Citation
“story9287.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 16, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/17469.