Chester Union Free School District students engage in captivative conversations to learn more about 9/11

Students throughout the Chester Union Free School District spent the day on September 11, 2024, engaged in meaningful conversations with their teachers and peers to learn about a monumental moment in history. 

At Chester Academy, the day started off with announcements from Principal John Flanagan, which included an overview about the attacks and a moment of silence to honor all of the lives lost that day. 

Throughout the day, teachers utilized special lesson plans and had intriguing discussions with their students about the events of the day and their personal reflections and remembrances.  

“Personally, I wasn’t fully affected by 9/11, but being able to see how my teachers were affected and how they react and tell their stories, it was just really crazy,” said Reggie Go, a sophomore at Chester Academy. “One of my teachers, Mrs. DePaolis, she’s my Spanish teacher, she was telling me how she was a first responder there. How she helped out and couldn’t go home for about a week or two afterwards.”  

Health teacher Jennifer Daly centered her classes around the long-term health effects of 9/11 and how those who were exposed to the debris have increased rates of certain cancers and other health problems.  

“About three thousand people died that day,” said Ms. Daly. “At this point, almost twice as many people have died from health related illnesses that they contracted while helping out at 9/11. The tragedy continues, so that is what we are talking about today.”  

Throughout the lesson, students learned about how researchers have identified more than 60 kinds of cancer and over two dozen other conditions that are linked to Ground Zero exposure. They also learned about the World Trade Center Health Program that provides healthcare for 9/11 related illnesses for survivors.  

Students from Elise Boyle’s and Elaine Lynch’s fourth-grade class at Chester Elementary School sat at their desks with eager eyes as they read an article titled “The Amazing Boat Rescue of September 11th” to learn about the heroic acts made by boat captains and crews, saving nearly half a million lives. 

During the lesson, students learned of the brave efforts these civilians made to help save others. Many students in the class had little or no knowledge about 9/11 prior to their lesson. Students talked to their peers about what they knew already and what they learned from their teachers and families. 

The article takes the audience through 11-year-old Thomas Panevino’s perspective of the day, seeing the planes hit the tower from his classroom and trying to get off the island with his father and assistance from the Coast Guard. 

“I think it’s wonderful that they are doing this. I think Mrs. Boyle has a great presentation with the handouts she just gave everybody,” said Jean Gastman, a Classroom Aide at Chester Elementary. “It really gives them an idea of what this is really about because it’s pretty widespread. Chester is having their evening ceremony tonight, and (Principal) Mrs. (Mary Kate) Boesch asked people to attend it. It’s good to remember because it was a very devastating time, especially in the state of New York.” 

The Town and Village of Chester will be hosting a 9/11 memorial service at Kiwanis Club of Chester 9/11 Memorial (Chester Community Park) to honor the victims and lives lost on Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 6 p.m.  

Throughout the lesson, Mrs. Boyle’s class made world-to-text connections as they continued learning about non-fiction conventions in writing. They noted various different kinds of non-fiction conventions such as maps and photographs. 

“There was a lot of bold print for words like ‘rumble,’ and the article had subtitles in the beginning,” said Arianna Perez, a fourth grader at Chester Elementary. “It was pretty interesting how they saved all the people. There was a boat that could only fit 10 passengers, but they had around 30.”