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| by Stuyvesant High School Students, |
Sep 28, 2001 |
—Jessica Copperman, senior
We need to take action; this isn’t a time to sit back and see what happens. Enough is enough.
—Tal Itzkovich, senior
It was shocking. It made you realize how vulnerable we are as a country, how unprepared. It was so easy to do what they did. The scariest part of it, for me, is that we’re fighting an unconventional war. It’s not like fighting against Iraq. There’s no military base to bomb, no country to target.... I’m very doubtful of our ability to eliminate terrorism. Politicians keep making promises that they can’t keep. The terrorists have guerilla fighters, they’re on strange terrain, much of Pakistan is sympathetic to their cause. It’ll be very difficult.
—Robert Sandler, social studies teacher
We heard this screeching noise and then a real loud boom. It was so loud it shook all the desks, and our desks are fastened to the floor; it was a lab room. We thought it was just a car accident, but the kid next to me was sure it was something more—he thought it was a plane crash. About five minutes later, we see the second plane just crash into the second building, and we’re in hysterics. We think the debris has just become immense, until we look closer and realize that it’s actually people jumping from the WTC... A few minutes later, we see the second building crumble. They eventually evacuate us and we’re running outside. And then people are just screaming that the other building had crumbled as well, so they rush us back in the building, but most of us are already out, and the police push us out, but then we hear gunshots, and there’s chaos everywhere. People start firing guns, and the police tell us to stay low and run for our lives, so five miles later, we look back, and see everything in smoke. Today is entirely different in New York. The once bustling city is silent with tears.
—Jeng Tyng Hong, junior
Alexis Dallara, senior, made these entries in her journal on the day of and those after Tuesday’s attack:
September 11—Today life turned dark and silent—it’s now Midnight, thus concluding the infinitely long day of 9/11/2001 or 911 as it was pointed out. Now that it’s finally midnight, it’s time to look towards a brand new day because the Lord has granted us life and hopefully at the same time, the courage to survive. For now we can’t look back. We lost so many yesterday but they’re in a place even more beautiful than what was the Manhattan Skyline 24 hours ago—they’re in Heaven.
September 13—People can’t tell an Arab from a Muslim from a Palestinian and so, everyone is in such danger. I am especially scared because my neighborhood holds a majority of Indians (Sikhs) and Caucasians from the neighborhood near us have already attacked them. Their temple is one street away from my church and I am afraid to go to Church because I fear more ignorant people might come and try to kill Catholics if this turns into a religious war.
September 17—So sleepy, so drained, so emotional. Tomorrow it will have been one week, and I still haven’t recovered. I don’t know if I should’ve recovered by now or not.
During homeroom, we were told to evacuate the school. We followed the general mass of students onto the second floor. Suddenly, a loud rumble could be heard and people rushed in from the first floor. Chaos erupted. I was standing on the stairs that led to the first floor with my friend Wendy at the time. Both of us stood frozen in confusion until a man yelled at us to get down. At that, I grabbed hold of Wendy and together we ran down the stairs.
—Jerry Wei, sophomore
While everybody else was walking up the West Side highway, I roamed downtown trying to find a place where I could be put to use. I found the volunteer triage center in the square at Center and Worth. In the square, the wounded were being seen to while volunteers were asked to give their blood, clothing and assistance in any way possible. I gave my shirt to be used as a tourniquet. The whole experience felt surreal, the dust blocking out the sun and the sound of buildings collapsing in the distance. We rode into the choking smoke, only to be turned away because air conditions were not safe. I stayed around anyway through the night as they trained me in rescue procedures. We never ended up going in. However, I will always remember the moment I mentally prepared myself to write the word “DEAD” legibly on foreheads of the victims I would find in black marker.
—Anonymous Stuyvesant student
No one I knew personally was working there, but I saw a man falling … and that’s someone’s father or husband or friend. And he had a suit on.
—Anonymous Stuyvesant student
The explosion, the image of the first building crumbling in on itself, I can’t forget that. And the image of all those people on the ground running as the smoke covers them. You could see an emptiness in everyone’s eyes, like no one really knew what was going on. They were all looking for some explanation, and yes, some girls started to cry. Then their friends started to comfort them. I had tears in my eyes.
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