It was the beginning of the school year of 7th grade on Long Island. Early in the morning rumors spread that a plane hit the WTC. At first I believed it was one of those very small solo planes and I had no idea of the magnitude of the damage. None of the teachers were telling us anything.

Throughout the day, a bunch of students were getting called down for early dismissal because their parents came to pick them up. My sister came down from the high school nearby and she was very upset, but I still did not receive any more information. She just said it was “World War III”. It wasn’t until I got home around 3 PM did I see that both twin towers were gone, the pentagon got hit, and a plane crashed in PA. Really messed up.