Editor’s Note: Members of the Journal-World’s Teen Advisory Board wanted to find out what Lawrence students were thinking as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches. They posed two questions. The responses to one question appear here; the others located here.

Question: How have you, your friends and your family been affected by the Sept. 11 attacks?

Henry Raak,
10,
Pinckney School

I have two uncles who live in New York, and we were worried about them. We kept calling until we found out that they were OK.

Faith Darnell,
14,
Central Junior High School

It put some kind of fear in me, because it showed me (that) we are hated by other people more than I thought we were.

Amber Steimle
age 10
Hillcrest School

My uncle was in Manhattan. I hoped he wasn’t hurt. The rest of my family was safe, miles away. My family was, and still is, worried about the future. Thousands of people at my Dad’s work lost their jobs. I owned stock in the trade towers and my stock fell. I am worried sick about what might happen next. I knew this wouldn’t end soon. I started having dreams about war and soldiers attacking my family. All I wanted was that this would stop.

Micaela Mendez
age 10
Hillcrest School

My family was in shock. We didn’t see a replay of the event on the news we saw the actual thing happen on TV. The shock that so many people died from these terrorists is unnerving to me. The first couple of nights after the incident, I was scared and had nightmares.

After awhile, I realized that this kind of thing will happen, although rarely. But, I still don’t think that it is right. So, if you ask me how Sept. 11 affected me and my family, I would say It affected us emotionally. While other people were affected physically, my family and I had feelings like fear, anger and sadness. For the people that survived, I think of them as blessed. For the families of the people that died, I can only hope that they get through all right.

Hugh Naughtin
age 17
Free State High School

Obviously, we are not anywhere close to New York City, and we didn’t personally have any friends that lived there. It has given us a chance to look at the situation and examine maybe what some of the causes were. Also, it has given us a chance to reevaluate ourselves and our place in the world.

Peter Monshizadeh
age 13
South Junior High School

My family was really sad. On Sept. 11, we prayed a lot and sat together in front of the TV. We were really afraid. I didn’t do much that day besides go to school. Mostly we stayed inside, and a few days later, I drew a flag on the sidewalk with chalk. We were more careful of where we went, and I was more respectful of other people. Everyone was in mourning. We gave money to charity, and on the anniversary of the attacks, we’ll pray and maybe talk about what happened.

Anne Laue-Minden
age 16
Free State High School

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 did not directly affect my immediate family or group of friends, in that we didn’t personally know anyone who died. However, one of the immediate realizations I had was the interconnectedness of our culture. Through my own observations and a few of my mom’s, it became obvious how willing many people were to give up some of his or her civil liberties for more security. I notice many of the people around me are frustrated with the goals of the government for more military spending and/or the fighting in Afghanistan.

Jessica Foulke
age 17
Free State High School

For months afterwards, I couldn’t seem to get a good night’s sleep, and I still can’t sleep through the night. It never happened before the attacks, but I think subconsciously it affected me. For days I did nothing but watch the news, and I still turn on CNN every day for a minute to make sure that nothing terrible has happened while I’m asleep or at school. I now cling to things more closely friends, family. I always want to know where they are. I know that it sounds like I have regressed about 10 years in age, and maybe I have in a few ways. From the moment those planes hit those buildings, those terrorists instilled a quiet fear in me that I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from. I hope that someday I will.

Sam Pedraza
age 13
South Junior High School

It’s made me realize that we can’t stay in our own country and be protected. We have to reach out and react to the rest of the world.

Dylan Guthrie
age 11
Hillcrest School

My family has been directly affected by Sept. 11 because my uncle lives in New York City. We weren’t sure if he was OK for a while but thankfully we found out he was all right. The same thing goes for my other uncle he was just visiting New York City. He was fine, also. My grandparents live on Long Island so they knew a lot of people who died in 9-11. My aunt was flying back from Japan and her plane couldn’t land in the United States and had to fly way up north into Canada. After learning about the tragedy I had a feeling in my stomach the whole day like I had swallowed a huge brick. I felt like I had to run outside and do something.

Sam Walter
age 10
Hillcrest School

On 9-11, coming home from school was weird because the gas lines were super long everyone thought that gas prices were going to rise a whole lot. My mom and dad were in San Francisco, so their plane was delayed, and they had to drive home. When I saw the trade towers fall on TV, it was freaky. I didn’t know at that time how many people had died or why.

Lawrence students Dylan Guthrie, Alek Joyce, Kristina Krones, Yoshika Crider and Jessica Foulke are members of the Journal-World’s Teen Advisory Board.