story7335.xml

story7335.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-14

I was in one of my teacher education general methods classes that horrible morning. We had gone on a ten minute break, at which point I went to our Student Union building. The TV in the front of the building had the news on, and I didn't really think too much of it, just said there was a fire at the Pentagon. This was a four hour long class, so we got another break, and after this one a fellow student came back and reported all of the news that was happening, The Pentagon, Pittsburgh, and of course New York City.
The professor let us out early (totally unheard of for that class) and I then went back to my residence hall where I was an RA. It was our job as RAs to try to make sense of this tragedy, and be resources for our residents should they require it. It was also here that I tried to make contact with my brother who goes to school in Pittsburgh. There was no phone service to many places in the area because lines were so busy. I finally made it through. That was one of the hugest sighs of relief of my life.
There were a number of student prayer vigils held throughout the campus. I'm not usually big on public prayer, but I felt something drawing me there. It was the first time in my four years of undergraduate work that I truly felt unity of the student body.
September 11, 2001 changed all of our lives forever, and it is not something that I will soon forget. Just like that fateful day in Pearl Harbor, or when President Kennedy was killed, or when we learned of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, these images and memories will be etched in our brains for the rest of our lives.