Brigetta Del Re, Library Media Specialist

September 10, 2021


When a plane went down in Somerset County, though, Del Re remembers that parents became more concerned.

Tumi Ojo

When a plane went down in Somerset County, though, Del Re remembers that parents became more concerned.

Library media specialist Brigetta Del Re was an English teacher on Sept. 11, 2001. During the first attack on the World Trade Center, Del Re was in her classroom, continuing with teaching, as she had been instructed by the school district.

“Not a lot happened at first. The district was very adamant about not turning on the TVs,” Del Re said. “For a while, some people believed that the attacks were just a rumor.”

When a plane went down in Somerset County, though, Del Re remembers that parents became more concerned.

“Parents were calling their kids who had phones during the school day because of the plane that hit Shanksville. Many thought that the region was a target,” Del Re said.

At that point in the school year, she had only known her students for a few weeks. 

A student came up to her during sixth period and said, “I’m so scared.” But Del Re felt that she couldn’t say it was going to be okay, because she did not know herself if it would be.

“There was very little we could do at that time. The only thing I could tell her was that I’m scared too,” Del Re said

The day after the attacks, students had a lot of questions. But so did all the adults.

“It was very surreal. You would go home, turn on your TV, and you would sit down and cry,” Del Re said. “You would see golden retrievers (at the World Trade Center site), exhausted because they couldn’t find all of the human remains of the victims.”

Leave a Comment

The Purbalite • Copyright 2024 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNOLog in

Donate to The Purbalite
$345
$750
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Purbalite Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *