story1015.xml

story1015.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-14

I work as a kindergarten teacher in Falls Church, Virginia. As many others will say, the day began very normally and as usual. Around 9:00 am I left my classroom to use the restroom and noticed that there was a lot of activity in the office. As I was leaving the restroom I asked someone what has happened. They told me that two planes had crashed into the trade towers and that they thought that it was a terrorist act. The severity did not hit me immediately. I returned to my room and progressed with my day. A short time later a member of the administration came to my classroom to inform me that we were having to go into lockdown mode and that there should not be anyone in the halls. The entire time that this horrendous thing was unfolding, I was not allowed to turn on the television or the radio to find out what was going on and I could call my family to locate everyone. As the day progressed 10 of my 21 students left school early. It wasn't until the end of the day that I was able to find out how much had really happened. After returning to school, the administration called a staff meeting to commend us on how well we had responded to this tragedy that was so near to us. The PTA of our school also bought each member of our staff a white rose as thanks for keeping their children so safe. Throughout the school year our school did many activities to show our partriotism. We presented the pentagon an American flag made out of teh right hand of each student and staff member of our school. We also participated with a local radio station and said the Pledge of Alligiance and sang the national anthem as a schoolwide event. I think that our community really came together during this horrible time.