Two planes collide into the World Trade
Center. Debris rains down from the sky. People run for their lives.
Despite the horrific events of September 11, students at Roosevelt
High School in Roosevelt, New York, have since found hope—and new
life.
Not long after the terrorist attack, Elaine Boss's biology classes
began planting a memorial garden in honor of two Roosevelt High
graduates who died at Ground Zero. Week after week, they labored
away, cleaning out the underbrush, planting, watering, and weeding.
Thanks to hard-working students like Robert Murray III, last spring
the garden blossomed with impatiens, daffodils, butterfly bushes,
and a maple tree.
"Everybody in school was trying to do something for September 11,"
says the 16-year-old, who gladly volunteered to dig up dirt in preparation
for planting. "I wanted to do my little part. It made me feel good."
In recent months, students across Long Island have done their part,
paying tribute to the heroes and victims of September 11 with quilts,
murals, and patriotic pins. Kids at Dease Elementary in Glen Cove
crafted stuffed animals for children who lost parents in the tragedy,
while students at IS 119 in Queens staged a walk-a-thon to raise money
on behalf of the September 11 Children's Fund.
When it came to settling on their own project, the decision to create
a garden was an easy one for Roosevelt students. They wanted to
create a memorial that would live on with each passing year.
"There is something about spring," Mrs. Boss says. "Spring brings
new growth, new life, new hope. This is a living memorial."
Do you think these kids are heroes? To nominate a hero into our
Hall of Heroes,
click here.
