rc_story34.xml

rc_story34.xml

born-digital

email

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2004-06-28

It seems like it was just an ordinary day like so many others in high school. One class had just ended and the next class was just coming in when one of the students "Chris" rushed in yelling something has just happened turn on the T.V. Switching from the discovery channel to CNN I sat in horror like the most of us...in true disbelief. The students were silent then crying in what seem to be only minutes. I remember asking God to help me with what I was seening. I remember not loosing control but rather speaking from my heart...If you believe in praying now is the time. If you you want to listen to what is going on...we will. If you want to ask questions you may just do not expect to have all the answers. I believe that at the moment I say a crisis I went into the nurse/shift. Tell them it was ok to pray. To stay healthy because the gift of life "blood" may be needed. And I encouraged them to speak to their parents about was they saw, heard, or felt. It was strange but the year before we had had two very popular young teens die in an auto accident and one child organs had been harvested to allow others to survive they were both my students for 2 years. It all came out on that very day. Students that had lost family members previously and had not had the time to grieve and heal seem to have raw wounds. As Health Occupations students and teacher we made a banner and sent it to New York City to show how much we care and that we were thinking of the survivors and the those who died...

My students wrote to high school students in the Bronks but the post office was not able to deliver that package and I was notified almost 10 months later. We did what we could here locally my making small donations of money to the ARC. The students made a second banner which was rolled out the main hallway at school and signed by all who passed it was taken to NYC by the group of firefighters who were on their way up to the area to help. My students made it a mission to find out as much about what was being done in both the NYC and Washington as possible. They spoke freely about all the people who died in the planes and those who helped crush a plane instead of hitting more targets. The students did well during this time of grief, confusion and unknowns. Some lost family members or knew of someone who knew someone who died. One of the students wrote a beautiful poem on the very day 9/11/2001. One student celebrated her birthday that day and wished a life to be saved as see blew out her candles. Although it was difficult we still tried to work even if it was only 30-40 mins every hour for many weeks. I believe the students learned first hand about the steps in grieving, that some parents can be well to do and loss a job in days. Can somehow growup in hours and think of others before themselves. I saw alot of positive things being done by all of us and I am proud of the part me and my students played in one of our worse disasters of our life times. As a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) group we had always done alot of Volunteering hours, collecting donations and items for worthy causes.

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