story11201.xml
Title
story11201.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-12-12
911DA Story: Story
I awoke on September 11, 2001 like every other day. I woke up to my alarm going off at 6:00 in the morning, informing me that it was time to get ready for school. Therefore, I got up and got ready to start another day at school.
When I arrived at school, I did my usual routine; went upstairs to the Broadcasting room and then when the bell rang for students to enter the halls I followed, ending up at my locker. Just to let you know I was a sophomore when this all happened.
I started my day off in English with Mrs. McWilliams at 7:39 in the morning. By this time, nothing seemed different or at least I did not notice. It was only time until the catastrophe would unfold right in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing to prevent it.
The bell rang at 8:20 ending first period and I had five minutes to get to my second period class. During second period, I think I had gym, I am not sure. All I know is that I did not have study hall because I am sure I would have been informed of the first plane, which hit the North Tower at 8:46. Therefore, I went through second period without having a clue about anything.
Since I was in my schools Broadcasting program, I was able to leave my second period class early because we put on a show during homeroom (which was between second and third period). As I walked through the empty halls, it was only minutes before I would find about the worse attack on US soil.
When I got to the Broadcast studio, everyone?s eyes were fixated on the television. That is when I was informed that two planes had hit the World Trade Center buildings. I had not seen either plane hit the towers. As I watched the TV screen I had no idea of what was going on. Who did this? Are they sure, they were terrorist? There were people mad at us? Where was the President while all of this was happening, Florida?
I was clueless; I had nothing to say. What could you say? People had taken our planes, our planes and deliberately crashed them into our buildings. In addition, I was only 15 years old, I new nobody in New York, so I was not as worried as my friends were at first. However, once I collected my thoughts all I wanted to do was cry, I wanted to go home. I live right near a power plant (about 3 minutes away) so I was scared to death that a plane would crash into the Power Plant. I had not said goodbye to my sisters that morning, I mean three of my sisters had moved out by then, but what if I died.
That whole day everyone was on high alert. Once the day went on and WE learned about the planes that crashed into the Pentagon and the one that was taken over by the unarmed passengers, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, it became real. TERRORIST! Our school never went on lock down, or our faculty members forgot to tell us. There were no afternoon activities, they had all been cancelled so that we could go home and stay with our families.
When I got home, I distinctly remember my mother sitting in her recliner crying. I asked her why she was crying and she said that she was afraid because of the power plant. So for the rest of the day, every television in our house was tuned to some sort of news broadcast. After awhile, I could not take it anymore; I had the exact same images playing over and over again in my head. So, I ended up watching movies for the rest of the night.
That day had not sunk in. The thing I do remember was that I knew just because something like this happened to us, God was still with us. I also remember everyone coming together. After 9/11, I could never listen to the ?Star Spangled Banner? the same again, every time I hear it I get Goosebumps.
Francis Scott Key (1779 - 1843)
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! [1]
[1] Fort McHenry - Birthplace of Our National Anthem
http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anthem.html
When I arrived at school, I did my usual routine; went upstairs to the Broadcasting room and then when the bell rang for students to enter the halls I followed, ending up at my locker. Just to let you know I was a sophomore when this all happened.
I started my day off in English with Mrs. McWilliams at 7:39 in the morning. By this time, nothing seemed different or at least I did not notice. It was only time until the catastrophe would unfold right in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing to prevent it.
The bell rang at 8:20 ending first period and I had five minutes to get to my second period class. During second period, I think I had gym, I am not sure. All I know is that I did not have study hall because I am sure I would have been informed of the first plane, which hit the North Tower at 8:46. Therefore, I went through second period without having a clue about anything.
Since I was in my schools Broadcasting program, I was able to leave my second period class early because we put on a show during homeroom (which was between second and third period). As I walked through the empty halls, it was only minutes before I would find about the worse attack on US soil.
When I got to the Broadcast studio, everyone?s eyes were fixated on the television. That is when I was informed that two planes had hit the World Trade Center buildings. I had not seen either plane hit the towers. As I watched the TV screen I had no idea of what was going on. Who did this? Are they sure, they were terrorist? There were people mad at us? Where was the President while all of this was happening, Florida?
I was clueless; I had nothing to say. What could you say? People had taken our planes, our planes and deliberately crashed them into our buildings. In addition, I was only 15 years old, I new nobody in New York, so I was not as worried as my friends were at first. However, once I collected my thoughts all I wanted to do was cry, I wanted to go home. I live right near a power plant (about 3 minutes away) so I was scared to death that a plane would crash into the Power Plant. I had not said goodbye to my sisters that morning, I mean three of my sisters had moved out by then, but what if I died.
That whole day everyone was on high alert. Once the day went on and WE learned about the planes that crashed into the Pentagon and the one that was taken over by the unarmed passengers, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, it became real. TERRORIST! Our school never went on lock down, or our faculty members forgot to tell us. There were no afternoon activities, they had all been cancelled so that we could go home and stay with our families.
When I got home, I distinctly remember my mother sitting in her recliner crying. I asked her why she was crying and she said that she was afraid because of the power plant. So for the rest of the day, every television in our house was tuned to some sort of news broadcast. After awhile, I could not take it anymore; I had the exact same images playing over and over again in my head. So, I ended up watching movies for the rest of the night.
That day had not sunk in. The thing I do remember was that I knew just because something like this happened to us, God was still with us. I also remember everyone coming together. After 9/11, I could never listen to the ?Star Spangled Banner? the same again, every time I hear it I get Goosebumps.
Francis Scott Key (1779 - 1843)
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! [1]
[1] Fort McHenry - Birthplace of Our National Anthem
http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anthem.html
Collection
Citation
“story11201.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 7, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/9551.