By Katie Vasquez
It was a solemn procession outside St. Helen Catholic Academy as the Queens school remembered the lives lost on 9/11.
“It was horrible knowing that this happened to people 24 years ago,” 7th grader Clara Wierzbicki told Currents News.
“I like this because especially we are giving people who died, first responders, the recognition that they deserve,” said 6th grader Joe Griffith of the experience: 400 kindergarten through 8th grade students placed a patriotic pinwheel outside the church and school as a way to honor the victims.
While these kids were too young to have any memories of that dark day, the neighborhood was deeply affected.
The principal of the Howard Beach school wanted to make sure students knew about it.
“We have so many families that were touched that day that it was really important that the students who were not born at that time, who it is just a piece of history for, understand how close it is to our community and our church and our families,” said principal Tara Di Rico.
One mother of two students at the school, Andrea Ammirabile, was working downtown on the day the World Trade towers fell.
“Everybody panicked in my building, and we were all kind of running around. And the first initial response from my office was to stay in the building. There was so much flying debris, even before they had fallen,” said Ammirabile.
The morning started with prayer in the gym, and PJ Marcel, a parent and member of the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps, brought a piece of a beam from the south tower of the World Trade Center.
“You could see their minds trying to develop and process what’s going on here, because they weren’t even a thought 24 years ago when the attacks on American soil took place,” said Marcel.
That’s another reason for this recognition: to make sure future generations never forget.
“I think we need more peacemakers. We need more heroes. We are in an environment where these kids are living in a form of fear regularly. And I think [we need] to be reminded that we had struggles, we had tragedies. So this is not something new to what we hear in the news today, but we came together,” said Di Rico.
“I think it’s good that we don’t forget about it, because of the heroes that sacrifice themselves to save others,” said Wierzbicki.
Throughout the school day, the students worked on projects focused on processing what happened on that tragic day.