Students and staff across the Dutchess BOCES campus paid their respects to the nearly 3,000 lives lost during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on its 25th anniversary in unique and engaging ways.
First and second-year students in the Career & Technical Institute’s (CTI) Security & Law program wore badges of police officers who died in the line of the duty on Sept. 11 and walked over 400 steps on the steps leading down to the Salt Point Center parking lot in their memory. The second-year students were joined by nursing assistant and EMT students as they walked and stopped for a moment of silence. Security Teacher Steve Price thanked everyone for their respectful demeanor. “I appreciate your respectful attitude for something like this,” Price said. “It not only means a lot to families who lost people, but it also means a lot to people like us who lived through something this horrible.”
Price’s students then walked around CTI to talk with students, teachers and staff about the lives of the police officers on their badges. Second-year student Shane Hadden was honored to share the stories of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department Sgt. Robert Kaulfers and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Sgt. Timothy Roy, Sr. who both died in the south tower trying to help people. “It’s a good thing to do, so that everybody acknowledges what these heroes did for this country,” Hadden said. “We should always honor people that helped us in a time of need when we were under such a horrible threat.”
Second-year student Devon Pipkin presented about NYPD Officer Mark Ellis, who ran into the World Trade Center to save people. What stood out to both Pipkin and Hadden was learning about the heroic actions of New York City Fire Department firefighters, including Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, who found a stairway in the south tower that went pass where one of the planes hit. He climbed 37 flights of stairs to make it to the tower’s sky lobby on the 78th floor. “Most of the firefighters that were in both the south and north towers were told to come back and not a single one did, they all wanted to find someone,” Pipkin said. “Knowing that you could die and still choose to take that step to try and save someone and understanding that you’re doing more for someone else, is very honorable.”
Resilience Academy
The Resilience Academy (RA) marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with a series of assemblies. Students gathered in the Learning Commons and observed a moment of silence for the lives lost. This was followed by a firsthand account of the tragedy from survivor Lydia Monzio, a monitor at the school.
Monzio worked on the 51st floor of the south tower. When her train was delayed, she narrowly missed being at her desk when the first plane struck. Monzio’s story helped make the scope of the tragedy less abstract for students. As she concluded and students headed back to class, RA student Richard Imperati offered her a hug. “Thank you for sharing your story,” he said.
Teachers also chose one of three lessons memorializing the day to share with students: How 9/11 Became a Day of Service, teaching students what a good deed is and encouraging them to do good deeds for others and teaching students about gratitude and encouraging them to express gratitude to others.
Students in April Hart’s class made American flag ribbons in honor of the victims with the phrase “Never Forgotten, September 11th, 2001” etched on them. Hart also encouraged her students to wear red, white and blue clothing for the occasion.
Salt Point Center
At 9:03 a.m., Salt Point Center observed a moment of silence before students worked on age-appropriate activities to commemorate the day. Karen Hawkins showed a picture of the Towers of Light to see what her students knew about it, while Trisha Pagliuca Johnson’s students colored in picture books of the events that occurred that day, as well as pictures of soldiers, police officers and firefighters. “I want these children to know that our first responders are the ones who make our world go round,” Pagliuca Johnson said.
Pagliuca Johnson made sure her children would never forget what happened on Sept. 11 by taking them to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the Pentagon. “It’s good to have a history of why 9/11 Patriot Day is such an important event,” Pagliuca Johnson said. “Never forget.”