Yesterday, our nation grieved for lives that were lost 15 years ago on September 11th. Recounting that tragic day 15 years ago, when I was just a mere child at 4 years old, all I can remember was panic. I was in school that day and the school was put on lockdown or better known as “Code Red” when the news reached Montgomery County.

The classroom flocked to our designated hiding space as our teacher awaited for any news. Our “Code Red” probably lasted around an hour before the school decided to send everyone home. I can’t recall how I got home. One minute I was at school, the next I was at home in my room watching the news. I didn’t understand what happened and why my older sister was so upset. I don’t think I understood the severity of this event until a couple of years later, but I definitely know now.

For the families that were impacted by this tragic event, you’ve been in my prayers for the last 15 years and will continue to be in them for as long as I live.

Please continue to read the article written by Tony Kandiero about this “horrific terrorist attack on America.”

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It was a day that all of us will remember for the rest of our lives. What happened on the morning of September 11th was the unexpected nightmare that we only expect to see in movies. But this was reality—it was happening, it was shocking, terrifying and quite frankly every student at Montgomery College was in shock and disbelief.

Early accounts (at approximately 8:45-9:03 am) of two airplanes ploughing into the World Trade Center Towers in New York had the whole nation, at least people who were up and early at the time, in a high intense panic. So was the case here at Montgomery College as students rushed to the nearest TV set to find out what was happening. What they saw on television were horrific images of airlines crashing into the twin towers in New York, and then minutes later into the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. It was now obviously sinking in that we might also become a target! Students and members of faculty immediately got on their cell phones to call their loved ones.

At 11:30 the College was officially closed after President Bush declared that this was apparently a terrorist attack on America: and that this was a “national tragedy”. Students gathered outside in a confused state wondering what was to become of them. It seemed like everything became hectic and minds were lost. The car park was in a frenzy as everybody wanted to get home. People who took public transports were in a jam. We were informed of closure of the beltway and most of the roads going towards downtown Washington D.C.

“I was on my way to work, and I was scared…naturally,” said Kulechi Upkabi who works in the bookstore right here at the College. There were definitely mixed feelings and reactions as people were in denial, and a certain feeling of hopelessness and anger crept in. Classes had been disrupted—and what was to follow, nobody had a clue. “They’ve closed all the roads to my house, so I will just sit here and wait and see what happens. In fact I was planning to go to New York this weekend to see my folks. I just don’t know what’s going to happen,” explained a worried and anxious student. A student who was evidently disgusted and frustrated with what had happened said he was not worried because the culprits behind this terror would be brought to justice in no matter of time.

Student Sue Corle shadowed her six-year-old son, Tyler, to school on Tuesday morning after the planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York City. She watched from her car as Tyler, his friend, and that friend’s mother walked to Barnsley Elementary school in Rockville.

“People were stopping in their cars, yelling,” about the attacks, Corle said. She wanted to make sure Tyler arrived at school safely and without hearing about the attack. She said she would have taken Tyler home for the day if someone had stopped and called to the mother who walked with Tyler. At the time of the interview, she wondered if Tyler’s school was closed and were the children okay. “I just don’t want them to be cared,” she said. Corle, 32, a psychology major, said, ” I want to catch [serial killer] Jeffrey Dahmer types,” adding, “I’m very interested by this [bombing]…What kind of mentality does it take? What kind of culture?” she asked. “How do we get back from this?”

She thinks the timing of the two planes was done on purpose—that the attacks were timed, so that the television cameras would be tracking the first attack while the second one happened. “These people, they wanted us to watch that.”

Mathew Bauer said his heart started pounding and he had a massive headache on the way to an interview at about 8:55 am Tuesday. “Next thing I know, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, ” he said. He thought the first plane might have been an accident, but the second plane, no way, he said. “I didn’t expect it to be as extensive as it was.”

Hearing and watching this had pushed him toward military service. “Serious consideration of going into the Army right now,” Bauer said. The 20 year old is not currently enrolled in classes at MC in order to work to pay bills. However, the music therapy major who wore a guitar on his back said, “I’m not going to take this lying down.”