Thursday, October 1, 2026
For Bobbie Jo DiFabio, the first day of her teaching career was supposed to be a milestone filled with excitement, nerves and the promise of a new beginning.
Instead, it became a day that changed the country — and shaped the educator she would become.
On Sept. 11, 2001, DiFabio, then 24, was waiting for a call about a leave replacement teaching position in the Baldwin school district. At around 9 a.m., the call came. But as she prepared to begin her career, she was also watching the events unfolding in New York City.
“When I first saw the news, I thought a movie was being filmed,” DiFabio recalled. “Seeing responders with sirens blaring, rushing toward the danger, and the dust/smoke took the movie feel away.”
The excitement of receiving her first teaching assignment quickly gave way to fear and uncertainty. “I was scared, and felt like it was wrong to be excited to have a job when things were going so horribly wrong in NYC,” she said. “I prayed for everyone responding and victims in the buildings.”
For DiFabio, who’s now 49, becoming a teacher was the culmination of years of preparation. She studied history and social sciences at Stony Brook University, where she also played flute in the university band, before earning a master’s degree in reading education from Long Island University.
After years of coursework, she was finally beginning the career she had worked toward. But instead of focusing on lesson plans and meeting her students for the first time, her first day was defined by uncertainty as a national tragedy unfolded.
DiFabio arrived at the district office at around 10:30 before heading to Nassau BOCES for fingerprinting. Then, getting back to Baldwin Middle School at around 1 p.m., she began her teaching career, in a classroom full of sixth graders on one of the most difficult days in the nation’s history.
When she arrived, she was told that students had not been informed about the attacks, and that she should not discuss them with them. There was a substitute teacher in her new classroom, and school officials stopped him briefly to introduce DiFabio, who would spend the rest of the day working alongside him, learning about the schedule, meeting students and becoming familiar with her new role.
In 2001, students didn’t have smartphones, social media or constant access to online updates. Information spread by way of television, radio and conversations among adults. Teachers gathered in offices or the faculty lounge to learn more about what was happening, while some parents drove to school to pick up their children as the day unfolded.
Looking back, DiFabio said that limited access to information affected the way the school managed the day. “There were no cellphones or computers, so it was easier to control what they saw,” she said of the students.
She remembers trying to keep the day as normal as possible for her students. “Kids had questions, and I answered them as best I could, given the limited information I had at the time,” she recounted.
The school dismissed students early, as parents continued to arrive to pick up their children. There was no school on Sept. 12, but when students returned the following day, DiFabio taught her first full day of classes. The lessons centered on political cartoons, conversations about the attacks, the unity of the nation and the emotions surrounding the tragedy.
“The rest of the week kind of revolved around 9/11 because it was so fresh in our minds,” she said.
For DiFabio, the names and faces of those first students remain connected to one of the most significant moments of her life. “I do remember feeling united with that group of kids as a result of our shared experience,” she said.
Twenty-five years later, she continues to teach her students about Sept. 11 — but the way she approaches the subject has changed. The students in her classrooms today weren’t alive when the attacks occurred, so instead of focusing on what happened that day, she helps them understand how the events of that day continue to affect their lives.
She uses examples they can relate to, including changes in airport security. She shows students a scene from “Home Alone 2,” in where a character mistakenly boards the wrong plane, and asks them to consider how travel has changed since 2001.
She also discusses the ongoing impact on first responders and those still dealing with illnesses connected to the attacks.
For DiFabio, teaching Sept. 11 is no longer only about remembering where she was that day. It’s also about helping students understand how history continues to shape their lives.
Each year, she begins her Sept. 11 lessons with the same reflection. “It was the most beautiful Tuesday in September,” she begins. “The sky was blue and the temperature was perfect, and life was good, until I got a call telling me to turn on my TV, and what I saw changed the U.S. forever.”
