[ot-caption title=”Students view the 9/11 PCTV episode while seated in Stacy Auditorium. (via Alexander Lee, Senior)”]

The mood changed as the students of Pine Crest filed into Stacy Auditorium. The joking ceased and the laughing stopped as the reality of the day set in. Teachers talked amongst each other, and the phrase “I can’t believe it’s been 14 years” was whispered through the room.

As Student Council President Yani Fabre took the stage, a hush came over the crowd. The Pledge of Allegiance was said with an unusual amount of vigor by the crowd, but the usual proclamation of “SENIORS” was nonexistent.

Mr. Walters began his speech in a red tie, white shirt, and blue slacks, furthering the patriotism accompanying the day. He touched on remembering the people who have given their lives, and how important it is to recognize, in any community, the people who are selfless and help their fellow neighbors.

The PCTV segment opened with a rotating view of one of the plane engines that is on display in the September 11th Memorial Museum. A quote by Vigil was shown on one of the walls of the museum saying, “No Day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

As I looked out into the crowd of students, every eye was forward and focused on the images of destruction and heartbreak in front of them. Even though everyone knew what to expect from the annual broadcast, it still brought a somber and respectful mood among the students and faculty.

For this year’s segment, PCTV incorporated community aspects by interviewing members from the Fort Lauderdale fire department, visiting a 9/11 memorial in Palm Beach Gardens, and a touching three-part interview featuring Pine Crest faculty. An interview with Chief Hoerchel, chief of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department, addressed how despite the New York Fire Department being the largest in the world, they were still overwhelmed by the terrorist attack fourteen years ago. He shared how he volunteered at Ground Zero to help clean up and ease the devastation.

The following interview revealed that people do not necessarily have to travel to the September 11th Memorial Museum in New York in order to pay respects for the lives lost. This piece featured a local artist who created a three story column in the Palm Beach Gardens to honor the fallen, specifically the firemen and first responders. The sculpture is within a plaza that bears the shape of the Firefighter symbol. He shared the art’s significance; with purpose he stated, “I wanted to make people remember.”

The penultimate interviews addressed how Pine Crest reacted on this day in 2001. Dr. Markham was in the library and watched the second tower hit on the news. Referring to the crash of the second tower, Mrs. Sollitto said, “It was at that point we realized this was not an accident.”  As a Chemistry teacher at the time, Mr. Pierson’s concern was reassuring his students; he closed with, “I’m proud to be an American, and I’m proud to be a member of this Pine Crest community.”

Finally, the students of Pine Crest were approached all over school and asked the same question, “Without firsthand memories of the event, why should we be focusing and remembering an event that happened 14 years ago?” The responses varied, however, the main idea was that by remembering 9/11, it helps to unite us and bring the community together.

A collection took place all last week for the Forgotten Soldiers Outreach organization, which was formed in 2003. PCTV brought the audience into the interworks of the organization to see where all the collected items were going. The executive director and founder of the organization, Lynelle Chauncey Zelnar, shared that the volunteers organize the donated items and put them into care packages in order to send them out to all branches of the military.  By their count, they have helped over 350,000 men and women over the course of the last 12 years.

As the assembly came to a close, Mrs. Rashbaum, who was working as the morning show producer at WNBC in New York City at the time of the attacks, stepped up to the podium. Filled with emotion, she asked the students to stand for a moment of silence to remember the four planes that were hijacked that day.

This episode of PCTV was created to remember the lives of those lost and the lives of everyone affected by this tragedy. It reminded the students that no matter how much time has passed and no matter how little we can recall of the day, September 11th will always have a reverential place in American history.