When 9/11 happened I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade. My entire 6th grade class was at Nature’s Classroom, a non-profit outdoor environmental education program that last about a week. I can remember everything about this day. We had just finished breakfast and were told to go get ready for our first activity of the day when we were all called back into the mess hall. The directors of the camp and our schools staff that was with us told us that a horrible event had occurred. At first when they told us, none of us realized what a terrorist attack really was until they had told us everything that had happened. We had heard all about it but were unable to see the news because we were not allowed to watch the TV (it was there only for the adults to use). Parents were calling to make sure that their children were okay and to let them know that everyone was fine. But they were not allowed to talk to us, because it was one of the rules of Nature’s classroom. Because we were unable to watch the news, no one in my entire class saw any pictures or news segments about the attacks until 9/14/01, which was the day we got home. None of us realized how bad the attacks really were until we saw the pictures of the devastation that had been caused.
I personally did not know anyone that was on any of the planes, but one of my moms many cousins did. Her cousin Chris knew the Hanson family (Pete, Sue, and Christine). Christine Hanson was the youngest person killed during the attacks. She was traveling with her parents to go to California. She would be a teenager now if her life was not cut short by the 9/11 attacks.