Students reminded to 'Never Forget' 9/11

BROOKFIELD -- One girl wiped tears, another grimaced. One boy looked down at his shoes.

All 20 eighth-grade Whisconier Middle School students stayed silent even as the music stopped and the live screen images of terror stilled.

With a mantra of "Never Forget,'' Whisconier Middle School history teacher Greg Gubitosi's Sept. 11 lesson opened to clips of the same bright, sunny morning 12 years ago, one turned to horror as first one and then another airliner crashed into the World Trade Centers, toppling the Twin Towers. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon; a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field when passengers sacrificed their lives rather than let terrorists dive bomb what appeared to be the next target: the U.S. Capitol.

For these children, memories of Sept. 11, 2001, are not their own; most were toddlers.

Yet the impact is not lost on them, particularly the bravery of innocent people trapped inside the smoky towers who rescued, or just comforted, colleagues amid the chaos. They hailed the firefighters, police, and medial crews who raced into danger to save anyone they could find; some 500 dying in their attempt.

Liam Connors admits that in his earlier years the significance of Sept. 11 was vague. At 13, though, the graphic images of destruction in a place that is a drivable distance from his home gives him pause, he said.

Every year in school, Liam said, he and his fellow students talk about Sept. 11, 2001, and he believes generations from now the terrorist attacks will still need to be revisited.

"Kids need to know what happened,'' Liam said.

The CNN live video feed of the attack unfolding "baffled me,'' Liam said, noting he still finds it hard to fathom the hatred that would lead "other countries to do this to us.''

"It's crazy,'' he said.

In Gubitosi's classroom Wednesday morning, an American flag was hanging in front of a side window. He shared with his students that this was not just any flag: It was the one that was flown where his U.S. Army soldier son, John, served four separate tours of duty: three in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

"The war on terrorism is personal to me,'' Gubitosi said, his voice cracking a bit as he noted that his son served in the very same place where a sniper killed Air National Guard Staff Sgt. T.J. Lobraico of New Fairfield last week.

Gubitosi then talked of heroes to the class. He asked the new School Resource Officer, Sean Flynn, to share a quote.

"A hero isn't someone who isn't afraid; it's someone who is afraid but runs in anyway,'' Flynn said.

The students were then instructed to write their own paragraph titled, "What Is A Hero?'' The answers were varied, yet similar. Most agreed a hero is selfless, willing to sacrifice for the good of others; fathers and firefighters made some of their personal lists.

Principal Deane Renda said he still gets "the woolies'' when he reflects on that day when he was still a fifth-grade teacher at the school where he is now the head administrator.

Sept. 11, 2001 "forever changed our lives,'' said Renda, whose opening announcements of the day referenced the terrorism that killed nearly 3,000 people and requested a moment of silence for those families, as well as the family of Lobraico.

The Sept. 11, 2013 homework assignment for Gubitosi's class was "Never Forget What Happened on Sept. 11, 2001 for the rest of your lives.''

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Source: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Students-reminded-to-Never-Forget-9-11-4807316.php