For the past few weeks, considerable focus has been on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

This week marks the tragedy that occurred in our country on a Tuesday 10 years ago. On that day, 19 terrorists from a military group known as Al-Qaeda hijacked four jets, flying two into the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon. The fourth jet, which terrorist intended to fly into the White House, went down in Shanksville, PA, after passengers heroically rallied to thwart the terrorists.  There were approximately 3,000 deaths during this attack.

Some AES students are not old enough to remember this day; some have a very vague visual of what they were doing at the time, but still there are many who will remember every second of September 11, 2011 for the rest of their lives.

Senior Erin Patin has very vague memories of the morning of 9/11. She was in the second grade, and like most second graders, she did not pay much attention to the news. She may not remember much, but she does remember how this tragedy affected everyone in America.

“There was an overall gloomy feeling that lingered for a while during the recovery process, and then there was a sense of hope and pride as Americans rallied together to get through this crises,” said Erin.

Mr. Curtis, the new theology teacher here at AES, remembers this day more vividly than Erin did. On this morning he was in his first period sports medicine class as a junior in high school. Another teacher came into their classroom and told them to turn on the news because a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. He says that everyone thought it was an accident until the second plane crashed.

“It was so difficult to process what had actually happened,” said Mr. Curtis.

On the morning of 9/11 Mrs. Ladmirault was in the library at Catholic High in New Iberia, where she was teaching school at the time, when she received a phone call from a friend. Her friend had heard on the radio that there had been a gas explosion at the World Trade Center.  At that moment they turned on the TV and saw that there were  fires and chaos all around when all of a sudden they saw the second plane hit the building.

Mrs. Ladmirault said she remembers that at that moment,”the news anchors on television could not even talk they were just shocked by the whole ordeal.”  She was afraid because she realized that the plane was a passenger jet.

After seeing this, Mrs. Ladmirault said she went over to the physics teacher, who was a Vietnam veteran, and asked him if he thought we were under attack.

“He scared me the most because he went into ‘that mode’, and he stayed in that mode for a couple of months,” said Mrs. Ladmirault.

She said that for the rest of the day they watched the news closely, and they were just relieved that everyone they knew was safe.

September 11, 2011 is an emotional day that will be remembered forever.