Grade school kids not far from the age of ten witnessed an interruption in the routine of their daily lives, a shift in their country’s political agenda and an awakening for the rest of the world.

Ten years later they are constituents of a generation now sitting in college lectures with memories of the Sept. 11 attacks resting in the back of their minds. Four students who lived in or near New York City at the time of the attacks share their stories as the  ten-year anniversary causes memories to resurface.

Sarah Endaya – Bayonne, New Jersey

Sophomore in management

“[My mother] described how there was limited public transportation running, there was no cell phone service, barely any of the surrounding buildings were left undamaged, there was traffic like nothing she had ever seen before and everything was just chaos.”

On the morning of Sept. 11, Endaya’s mother came home from work five hours later than usual to greet Endaya and her family with news.

When her fourth grade classmates were slowly disappearing as their parents came to pick them up, she realized it was no ordinary school day.

“The morning of Sept. 11 was actually pretty normal,” Endaya said. “It started getting strange during the afternoon when I noticed a lot of my classmates were getting taken out of school one by one to the point where only half the class was there by the end of the day.”            

Although she lived across the street from her school, students were told they needed to be picked up by a legal guardian. Neither one of her parents were at home. Instead, both her father and mother were caught in the chaos of that morning.

“My parents worked extremely close to where the Twin Towers stood. The office building where my dad worked is… directly to the left of the left tower,” Endaya said. “Around the time the incident took place, my dad would be on the subway that travels directly below the Twin Towers. Luckily for us, he left for a week to visit his parents in the Philippines due to family emergencies.”

Upon seeing the images on the news that night, Endaya felt the entire situation was surreal.

“I just remember turning on the television to the news and thinking that what I saw looked like a movie, but I knew everything was real.”

Memories of her mother finally walking through the door from work that night coupled with stories of close friends losing their loved ones re-emerged as she looked back on the day the attacks occurred.

“I didn’t really understand the intensity of the situation until now, but I knew that it was a big deal,” Endaya said. “The whole thing made me love my hometown even more and made me respect the people who grew up there. I feel like experiences like that help communities get closer.”

Edgardo Lopez – Queens, New York

Sophomore in textile engineering

Lopez went to elementary school in Queens but lived and grew up and Brooklyn. The morning of the attacks, however, created an impact beyond the borders of Manhattan and spilled into surrounding boroughs and into the lives of people like Lopez.

“At that time I wasn’t sure what to think,” Lopez said. ”We were all obviously scared and shocked. Besides that, all that was going through my head was why anyone would do such a thing.”

The commotion of the city still lives on in Lopez’s mind, but while he continues to reflect on what happened that Tuesday morning, Lopez said the aftermath weighed just as heavily.

“I think the whole experience has made me realize that you need to see the world through many eyes,” Lopez said. “Pain and suffering can be caused by few. But in numbers and with true loyalty and respect, it can be overcome.”

Weaving in and out of crowded sidewalks and brushing by strangers on a daily basis was a routine. But according to Lopez, Sept. 11 became an eye-opener to him and to his surroundings, as what was once habitual practice became something more personal.

“You see many of the same people on the train, the bus, walking on the street, in the corner store and so on… all those people become like a huge family,” Lopez said. “Being a New Yorker means you are part of a community that suffered… But during that time of suffering we put our differences aside and comforted those we could. As New Yorkers we became much stronger.”

Casey Sarles – Goshen, New York

Sophomore in math education

Casey Sarles lived an hour away from the city during the attacks. Sarles did not say the tragedy had any immediate impact toward her, but it did to her loved ones.

“I [didn’t] live in New York City…but it certainly had an impact on my hometown,” Sarles said. “There were a lot of people that knew family and friends that worked in the World Trade Center and the surrounding area, including my dad. He knew several people that had been in the towers that day working and trying to get people out.”

It was difficult for Sarles to understand the effect of what occurred that morning, being a fifth grader. However, listening to her father’s stories over the past 10 years has cultivated an emotional attachment that came with time.

“Being that I am now of an age to understand everything that had gone on, 9/11 certainly has a weightier feel to it. Seeing my dad go through all of the chaos and now seeing the lasting effects makes 9/11 seem a bit more personal.”

Although Sarles said she struggled with memories of the attack because of her age at that time, she has connected with others who were in a similar environment during Sept. 11.

“When people bring up 9/11, I like to listen to what they have to say about it. It’s amazing how many people have similar stories and can relate to you.”

Ken Farnaso – Roosevelt Park, New Jersey

Junior in biological sciences

“I was in recess and one of my friends came up to me and told me the first tower got hit,” Farnaso said. “But in my mind I thought, ‘that’s not true. That could never happen.'”

Farnaso recalled the morning of the attacks to be a blur of panic and confusion. Parents, teachers and young children were rushed out of his school building, while ash clouds from the towers were visible in the sky.

“Everyone was in shock. They thought it was a movie or something,” Farnaso said. “All of them were just panicking – it was utter pandemonium.”

According to Farnaso , it was one thing to grasp what happened to the Twin Towers, but an entirely different thought to take hold of the notion of terrorism, which was a new concept at that age.

“It was really eye-opening because it was the first time I had heard the word ‘terrorism.’ It has been engraved in my mind and I guess everyone else in this generation’s mind,” Farnaso said.

Although Farnaso resided in New Jersey at the time, the Hudson River could not separate the Twin Tower attacks from impacting his friends.

“A lot of my close friends and their immediate family members passed away,” Farnaso said. “I went to at least eight or nine funerals in the next month. It was a really traumatic event for our small New Jersey town.”