Local seniors look back on attacks 12 years ago
Published 1:48 pm Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Escambia Academy seniors, front row from left, Courtlan Peebles, Allison Woods, Abby Akins, Beth Macks, Sarah Weatherford and back row, from left, Justin Hiebert, Cameron Murphy and Casey Jackson spoke with The Atmore Advance about the 9/11 attacks
Allison Woods remembers taking part in a group hug after her kindergarten teacher heard the news that two planes had flown into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Boggan
Woods, now a senior at Escambia Academy, and other area seniors spoke to The Atmore Advance about their memories of that day 12 years ago.
“Someone came in and told her what had happened,” Woods said. “She woke us up and we had a group hug.”
EA’s Cameron Murphy remembers watching CNN on a small computer monitor at Huxford Elementary.
“As we were watching, the second plane hit the tower,” he said. “It was pretty graphic for a kindergartner.”
He said he remembers seeing teachers crying at school.
“Everybody was emotional that day,” he said.
Murphy’s classmate Justin Hiebert said he remembers being scared that terrorists would go after a church he lived near.
Black
Escambia County High School seniors Malcolm Black and Tykirah Boggan were at Rachel Patterson Elementary and can remember watching the news on television.
“Teachers tried to tell us about it, but we didn’t really understand,” Boggan said.
While the ECHS students remember watching the news on television, 9/11 is one of the reasons EA senior Abby Akins doesn’t watch T.V. news.
“It’s all bad,” she said. “It’s all depressing.”
EA’s Beth Macks said she and her classmates were too young to understand it at the time, but it sank in later.
“Now it’s like, how could something like that happen when nobody thought it would,” she said.
Casey Jackson said he remembers seeing his mother cry that day, but the gravity of the situation didn’t sink in until he was older.
“It hit home once I got older,” he said.
One of the kindergartners to witness the events, Courtlan Peebles, said she plans to join either the Army or the Air Force.
“It’s a sense of knowing that you’re doing something that matters,” she said. “You know you have a purpose.”
None of the students said they minded increased security measures, but many believe that a terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 could happen again.
Sarah Weatherford said that while security technology was getting better, people were still finding ways to beat the system.
“I think I’m more scared,” Akin said.
