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Overcast Central students view World Trade Center artifact
In a somber procession, students from Valley Stream Central High School paid tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with a moment of silence and a viewing of a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center site.
Students had the opportunity to get an up-close look at the 15-foot beam, 3,350-pound, as it lay on a flatbed trailer inside Hendrickson Park, behind Central High School, guarded by Chief Joseph Fernandez of the Valley Stream Fire Department.
About 1,100 students at Central High marched passed the piece of steel on Sept. 12, bowing their heads in silent remembrance of that day. Officials with village secured the beam, which will be erected and serve as a permanent fixture of the Sept. 11 memorial at Hendrickson Park.
“Our community went through a very rough time as we learned just how many friends and neighbors we had actually lost,” said Valley Stream Mayor Ed Fare, who, as a teacher in the district, appreciates the powerful message the beam represents and the educational value of having it for students to observe. “Brining this piece of the towers here to our village is very meaningful. It symbolizes the strength of all those affected, and the strength that we have as a community – we can heal, but we must never forget.”
In the classroom, students from Central, North and South High Schools, as well as Memorial Junior High School, reflected on and discussed the attacks on America and the impact they have had on the world today.
