Students united in response to crisis

Hillsborough High School students and faculty literally wore their patriotism on their sleeves by dressing in red, white and blue Friday in a show of unity and support for victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

By:Krzysztof Scibiorski
   According to social studies teacher Toby Kansagor, the vast majority of students wore America’s colors to school Friday, even though the request to do so came on short notice the afternoon before.
   "These events definitely galvanized the whole school, a fund drive for the Red Cross will be sponsored by all student groups, and an amazing number of students are offering to help" Ms. Kansagor said.
   Ms. Kansagor said that because there are televisions in all classrooms, students were able to watch the tragic events unfold throughout the day on Sept. 11 when terrorists hijacked commercial jets and crashed them into the Twin Towers in Manhattan, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. and a field in Shanksville, Pa. More than 5,000 people are dead or listed as missing.
   "Those students that felt that they could not watch went to the library, which was designated as a quite space on Tuesday," she said. Ms. Kansagor explained that on the day following the tragedy, classes resumed in the normal manner except that those students who felt they could not be in a class environment were able to go to the library.
   "Red, White and Blue Day" was one of the ways in which the school responded to the tragedy
   "It’s great to see that the school can come together, to pull together, at a time like this," said senior Gena Geller.
   Ryan Donahue, also a senior, felt that the tragic events put many things in perspective. "Tuesday’s events and Red, White and Blue Day sort of stopped everything else that was going on. That’s the only thing on everyone’s mind," he said.
   On Monday, the school held the first one of its fund-raising events to benefit the victims of the tragedy. Students are also planning to hold a bake sale during Back to School Night, tonight (Sept. 20) and are also considering holding a carwash at a later date, Ms. Kansagor said.
   Commenting on the overwhelming participation in the Red, White and Blue Day, Mike McDonald, a junior said, "I’ve never seen anything like this before. We have school spirit days, but there’s never this many people participating."
   Stacey Telenson, a senior, volunteers for the Hillsborough Rescue Squad, and while she was not part of the units that went to New York City last week, she did her part to help. She was on duty in her free time to help cover the squad’s local area while other personnel were committed to the rescue effort in New York.
   Of those covering the local area she said, "that’s their way of contributing to the rescue efforts going on."