Student essay on 9/11 photography, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Commemoralive edition by the students of Stuy\'esant High School

Students Are Outwardly Calm Abbie Zamcheck Additional reporting by Patrick Mangan I thought it must have been an accident and I stood and Several white flakes of paint fell on junior Center Disaster discussion board on his website watched. I saw people jump­ David Pagano as he sat in the stuffy Brooklyn Tech received over 3,000 ‘hits.’ ing out of windows. That's .1 auditorium. He quickly assured his classmates that this debris did not remind him of the towers’ Senior Ruby Jong said that discussing the event with her friends helped to get it out of her when I realized people were collapse. system. On September 11, Jong and most of her dying. The planes hit, the tower smoked, our city friends felt safe the entire day. ^e said only when —Annie Thoms, English changed, our world changed; and it all happened she got home did she realize the magnitude of the teacher in front of our eyes. As students returned to event, though it never seemed to "directly affect” school at Brooklyn Tech Thursday, September 20, her. So this was terrorism. But it's these images were still fresh in our minds. But junior Matt Zeidel said there was a happened before, right? Some students said the emotions of their marked difference between those who witnessed classmates were affected by how much of the dis­ Oklahoma City in 1998, the the flailing limbs of workers falling from the World aster they viewed. And fewer students than TYade Center and those who did not. "A lot of peo­ ■ Tokyo subways in 1995, WTC expected availed themselves of the counseling ple saw more than 1 did,” he said. “These people in 1993, for goodness' sake. I provided by the school. have been a lot more hesitant to talk about spent all summer learning Assistant Principal Gene Blaufarb said the things.” about how rare terrorism was staff of 12 professionals received only a “trickle” of Although Zeidel didn’t see the jumpers, and how exaggerated the fear students on the first Monday after the attack, a another image dominated his mind. "1 saw the of it was. It wasn't something day students were informed via the Internet that bridge being completely covered in a cloud of we hadn't dealt with before, they could receive counseling at Brooklyn Tech. dust,” said Zeidel. “At that point I thought this is After Friday’s full cycle of classes, guidance coun­ going to affect us big time, this isn’t something we right? Things like this have selor Eleanor Archie had not seen the number of can just get past.” happened. The country students that she expected. “We’ve been reaching But Pagano wishes he could just forget. knows how to deal with out to kids,” she said. He said, “Safe is still a place in my home, in this.... This was how I con­ However, some sought relief from other my bed, where 1 can pretend none of this ever soled myself against the nag­ sources. happened.” ging voice that told me some­ According to senior Gary He, the World Trade “Everyone’s in denial.” said Archie. thing was really wrong.... Then I listened to the news. They talked about how it was Frazzled Freshman Class Gains Bearings an unprecedented shutdown of the city. The attacks on Jenny Lin America were unprecedent­ ed.... We had never entered a Additional reporting by Abbie Zamcheck territory so dangerous. We had never been this threat­ After barely four days at Stuyyesant, fresh- their cell phones useless. Since they had attended ened. Things never looked men were abruptly driven out of their new school orientation and the first couple of days of classes, when two planes crashed into the World Trade some said they had a good understanding of the like it could go so wrong. Center on September 11. The freshmen, barely school and its location by that time, From here, things could go so accustomed to travelling to and from Stuy, were Other freshmen were perplexed about to wrong we can't even imagine forced to find their way home, some equipped what to do next. One wandered a bit too far it. only with the basic survival information they had uptown and ended up lost at 82nd Street. Luckily, —Michelle Chu, junior acquired from their Big Sibs during orientation. he was assisted by sophomore Elisa Lau and her Freshman Hannan Pinski said, “I thought friends who directed him home. Freshman Nick It was frightening and horrif­ that my dad was in the building, or near it, and I Mroz never made it to school—he was turned thought that he was dead. When I saw the first away from the entrance by police lust after the ic. My seniors were terrified tower falling from biology class, I thought that it second plane hit. He was tolcf to walk up the West because we were up on the was all over and that I was going to die that day,” Side Highway, where he met up with senior tenth floor and we had seen Pinski later found out her dad nad changed his Suzanne Grandt, who was in an identical plight, this catastrophe next door.... I plans that morning, and had not gone downtown. Glad to see each other, the two “decided to stick think our main concern was In the hallway. Pinski met a friend who had together,” according to Grandt, They walked to being evacuated to a lower just seen people jump from the Twin Towers, Grandt’s mother’s office on 53rd Street and waited floor because from our van­ Perhaps from shock, the friend “suddenly went for train service to resume. At around 4:00 rm, from laughing and broke down crying hysterical- they took the 4 train to Queens, where Grandt tage point, we could see ly,” When the building shook slightiy and the lives. She told Mroz how to get home to Staten hordes and streams of people lights flickered, fi-eshman Alex Zedlozich said he Island from there, fleeing north. But we waited became scared because he thought a part of the Meanwhile, unable to make contact with very patiently until we plane had hit the school. Freshman Theresa their children, many mothers and fathers had to received word to evacuate.... Langschultz said she feared that the towers would wait for hours until they received word, “When I The students behaved very fall, like a tree, onto the school, Langschultz said finally called my mom she broke down in tears,” responsibly. The courage and later that before the attacks, her greatest worry said Pinski. “When my dad came home, I cried for had been remembering her locker combination. the first time all day,” said Glicksman. strength of our students « i

As they evacuated Stuyvesant, the 800-pIus A few of the freshmen interviewed said they when it comes to adversity class of freshmen clustered in groups for support, had given serious thought to transferring out of was amazing. It was just They stumbled out onto the sidewalk where they Stuy. “Although my parents never thought of it,” beautiful to see how brilliant­ 1 encountered a cloud of smoke and ash moving towards them. “A man told us the smoke was about two minutes behind,” said freshman Rachel said Silvia Ferreira, ‘T can’t say it didn’t cross my mind a couple of times. I realized, though, that it would be unreasonable.” Glicksman said that her ly they responded to this cri­ sis. —Fee Soohoo, art teacher Glicksman, “and at that point we knew we had to father “wants me to be back in school, returning run.” In a state of confusion and fear, the fresh- to normal as soon as possible.” men, along with older students more familiar with The next task for the freshmen will be reac- the area, made their way up West Street and to quainting themselves with Stuy. Freshman Sophie Chelsea Piers. Pollit-Conen said she had just started to feel at As they headed up the Hudson, many tried in home at Stuyvesant. "I had just figured out where vain to get in touch with their friends and families, the bathrooms are,” she said. 17 The Spectator • Fall 2001

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