Fox Lane HS Students Remember 9/11

Erin McGarrah was only 7 when the Twin Towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001. In spite of her youth, McGarrah has a clear memory of how she felt on that sad day.

“I remember wondering why so many people were leaving school early that day, then my mom came to pick me up from school too," she said. "She told us (me and my brother) what happened, but I didn’t understand the severity of it until I saw it on the news—then I knew it was really bad,” McGarrah said, “and I remember later learning that someone in my class lost their father that day.”

Senior Samantha Ingersoll, shared her haunting memory from that day. She and her family had visited the towers two weeks before the attacks and she remembers thinking it could have been her. Today, Ingersoll said she is grateful to have had that last chance to see the towers while they still stood tall.

Friday morning, more than 1,300 students — about the entire Fox Lane High School student body — participated in the school’s assembly and tree planting to mark the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Students were broken into two groups to watch "The Guys," a play written by Anne Nelson, a Columbia University journalism professor, after she helped a New York City fire captain write eulogies  eulogies for the eight men he lost.

Immediately after the assembly, students gathered for a tree planting ceremony. Olivia Arzac and Mike Johnston grabbed shovels and began to dig a hole for the tree.

Arzac—who, along with Johnston, belongs to the school's First Responders Club—hails from a family of firefighters and members of the military, said she would probably  have found a career as a first responder even before the events of 9-11.

“I think it’s just what I was meant to do,” Arzac said.  

Fox Lane Principal Joel Adelberg said that the tree planting ceremony is meant to pay tribute to the first responders who gave their lives trying to save others, but that it is also meant to represent life and to provide a symbol of hope.  

Prior to today’s events, the school’s social studies teachers taught lessons on 9-11 to provide students with a historical perspective on what the world was like and how it changed.

“On this Sunday— the 10 year anniversary of the attacks—everyone in the country will remember that because of September 11, our world changed forever. This is a community moment; we have an opportunity to come together as a community, to ask questions and listen to each other’s memories. It’s a teachable moment that we don’t want to lose,” Adelberg said.