BY ALICE MA
On September 11, 2001, a nation mourned as almost three thousand civilians and emergency response personnel lost their lives to terrorist attacks.
To mark the 10thanniversary of that fateful day, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum was unveiled this year in New York City. Based on a design chosen from over 52,000 entries, the memorial consists of a park featuring two hollow pools. Waterfalls flow from the edges, where the names of all the victims are inscribed. The tranquil plantings and flowing water provide comfort to mourners. It was ceremoniously unveiled on the 10th anniversary, attended by a small group and viewed on national television by millions across the country. Constant television coverage included live broadcasts from 2001, analyses, personal stories and portraits of local commemoration.
At MHS, Social Studies classes discussed 9/11 on the Friday before the anniversary. MHS’ Social Studies department chose to stress the importance of keeping the memory alive and ensuring that every student realizes the scope of what happened. Certain teachers also focused on how to memorialize such an event. Social Studies teacher Joe Liberti, for example, prepared a slideshow containing other memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Vietnam War Memorial.
Liberti, along with other teachers, also gave each student in his class the chance to participate in MHS’ own mini-memorial. Students were given decoratively cut sheets of paper on which they were instructed to finish the thought, “People should remember...,” or something to a similar extent. The papers were hung up around the outside of the school. Some were hung on the tree outside Palmer Circle and some were displayed in the Zen Garden.
One student wrote, “Sometimes it is just impossible to imagine that such hatred could exist in our world.”
In most classes, students recalled what they were doing and how they felt that day. Most admitted that they were too young—between preschool and 3rd grade—to understand the importance of what had happened. For homework, students read about personal accounts of first-hand witnesses and people who had lost loved ones. Many were saddened yet were inspired to do something good in the world. Rachel Yalowitz ’11 said, “I think... it helped internalize the whole thing, because it’s kind of assumed that everyone knows what happened, but we were only 6 at the time.”
Jill Ammerata, MHS social studies teacher, admits that before the 9/11 lessons she was “concerned” because it was a “heavy and emotional lesson for the second day of school.” However, she found her students mature and responsive. “You get the sense that...the students are grateful for spending a period on this event,” she said. “Many didn’t know much going in, so the lesson really opened their eyes.”
Other teachers outside of the Social Studies department found other means of including 9/11 in their lesson plans. For example, AP English teachers Darren Bosch and James Short discussed the poem “The Names,” written by the 2001 to 2003 poet laureate Billy Collins, in order to commemorate those lost in 9/11. “I liked that 9/11 was incorporated into my English class this year,” AP English student Sarah Hoffner ‘12 said. “The poem generated a meaningful discussion.”
The monumental 10th anniversary of 9/11 opened up many old wounds as the events were refreshed in memory: friends revisited graves and many mourned for those who lost their lives. As a nation we will always remember that heart-stopping day, but with the addition of the memorial, new national unity and spirit has risen from the ashes of calamity.
