By Emily Melz
This past Friday, Mrs. Gill’s ACC English 3 students in Period 4 had class like they usually do during the week, but this class was special in that it took time to remember a tragic part of American history: the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Everyone in the class was quite young when the attacks occurred, excepting the teacher, Mrs. Gill, but everyone felt what was lost that day and understood how the country still aches today. The class started with a “Hail Mary” and “Glory Be”, taking time to pray to God while being caught up in the weekend anxiety. Mrs. Gill returned the journals to the students and told them that they would continue to hand-write instead of typing. She also commented that in her opinion, music is good and calming while writing and that “people who do not like music are soulless.” The students then were given the journal topic of “Presence of Absence” which reflected on 9/11 and its effects, then and now. Bruce Springsteen’s “Into the Fire” played in the background while students wrote.
After the song ended, Mrs. Gill asked for volunteers to read their journal entry. Joe was called on first and read his thoughts on the matter. He talked about American pride and how in history, Americans, when faced with difficulties, always get back up and never give up. Abby read next and she wrote in the perspective of a six year old, which was how old she was when the event happened. She didn’t understand what was going on, but her school did honor the day with an assembly. Mrs. Gill then asked the class if any school did not address the day. Some schools did not talk about it, Anne’s school had a moment of silence, and Kayla’s school had the kids be picked up early.
The journals continued to be read by Katy, whose younger sister was born on September 11th and was quite disappointed when her family didn’t go out to celebrate her birthday and didn’t understand why. Kayla also read her journal which included a poem she wrote about the day and how America is still strong today. Max read after Kayla and he wrote how America could be considered over-confident and maybe even unlikely to rise up after such a terrible situation, but the country did indeed rise up again.
After such a solemn topic, the class changed focus to reading the scribe notes of the past two days. Max read his in the form of an essay while Katy wrote in the form of a play script. Some also tried to sing “Happy Birthday” to Carlye, but failed.
Moving along, the class began to finish the presentations on American values. Carlye, Maddie, Chris, and Tim presented “Success” in America. They believed that success meant achievement and triumph and it can be seen in history, like the Revolutionary War, and in literature, like the Harry Potter series. The class ended while the presentation was still in progress, which meant that the rest of the presentations will finish up on Monday.
Mrs. Gill’s Period 4 class reflected on the tragic day of 9/11 and agreed that though the loss was great, the country would always stand tall and look towards the future. The students will continue to study the values throughout the year on what makes the United States truly American, especially in times of crisis.
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