September 11: one year later

On November 25, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It is said that everyone remembers the exact time and place they heard the news. Our generation may not have been alive for Kennedy, but we were alive on September 11, 2001, and we will remember the exact time and place we heard the news. For most of us, it was here, at Montgomery Blair High School. Some saw the second plane hit live on T.V. Others heard the news from Mrs. Fus's announcement. Almost instantly, there was fear, chaos, and sadness. But on that day the students came together to grieve, comfort and support. One year later that day is still crystal clear in our minds. We have been changed forever.

Junior Audrey Tornblom was sitting in her T.V studio class when she heard about the attack on twin towers. Like the rest of us she was overcome with sadness. Just minutes later news of the Pentagon was heard. All Tornblom could do was say, "My mom works there." Then the picture on the T.V appeared. It looked as if the plane had crashed right into her moms office turning it into an inferno. Tornblom continued to frantically call her mom, thinking that her mom would have her cell phone. But when her mother didn't answer, Tornblom could only think the worst.

"It scared me so bad, because she's all I have. I thought I was going to lose my mom, my only parent," recalls Tornblom. One year later a tear rolls down her cheek as she remembers the event. She can't tell you how long it was before she received a message that her mom was ok, she was in such a state of shock.

As it turned out her mom's office had been just five hundred feet from the crash. When the plane had crashed and the fire had spread through her office, Tornblom's mom had been safe in another part of the building at a meeting without her cell phone.

Mrs. Fus said she knew of four or five students who had a parent who worked at the Pentagon, and there were probably more.

Until September 11, 2001, most Americans thought the United States was untouchable. Everyone was relatively safe. That one day changed everything. For many people it changed their entire way of thinking.

Sophomore Walker Davis says September 11 made him realize "how fast life can end and how fragile it really is." His friends stop their jokes and nod in agreement.

Like many other students, freshman Iris Parham feels more vulnerable. "Now when you go to D.C you wonder what's going to happen. You don't feel so safe," she says.

For Tornblom, September 11 changed everything. "I'll never take my mom for granted again," she says, "I think there are many more important things than money. American culture is so frivolous."

9-11. Numbers that have been forever etched into our memory. A number that will affect us for the rest of our lives. Our children and grandchildren might one day ask us where we were on 9-11, and we will remember the exact time and place: third period, Montgomery Blair High School.