[News] 9/11 Museum Trip: The Students’ Experience That Changed Their Thinking

Last Wednesday afternoon on October 30, 2024, CHAH students went on a field trip to the 9/11 memorial museum in Downtown Manhattan.

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Cristopher Olivarez Paniagua

As everyone knows, the twin towers as they were known were part of a global trade complex, the World Trade Center (WTC) and other targets such as the Pentagon and the Capitol in Washington DC, the latter did not reach its destination as the passengers did not allow the attackers of the terrorist group Al Qaeda who hijacked the planes.

Accompanied by teacher Mira Soni, during the trip the students were able to learn about everything that happened during that fateful day in September.

Those who attended the trip were able to learn about elements and details of the towers, such as pieces of the structures that were recovered, words from relatives, belongings of some victims, objects found during the excavations to make way for the new complex that date back to 1776, the year of the independence of the United States.

They also had the opportunity to participate in a forum with journalists who were at the scene minute by minute. This trip was very fun but also emotional since this was the place where 2,996 people died and between 6,000 and 25,000 people were injured.

I also had the opportunity to interview some participants and these were their experiences.

“My favorite part is where the photos of the deceased from the attack were and I learned about how the attack happened,” said student Allen Acosta from 11th grade at CHAH.

“My favorite part was when we were able to see the structural parts of the towers that they had in the museum,” said the teacher and guide on the tour, Ms. Soni. “I learned about the experiences of the journalists who were at the scene of what happened, such as a Wall Street Journal journalist who talked about his experience on 9/11 and how he had to do the newspaper that day because it was dramatic.”

This tour left us with many memories in which we were able to get to know each other better along the way and it left us with the knowledge of what we learned about the 9/11 attack.