NCHS seniors discuss 9/11 research

Three rising seniors in New Canaan High School, who are summer interns at the New Canaan office of VOICES of September 11th, will discuss their research on how people in Fairfield County responded after the attacks on 9/11.

There will be a presentation of the 9/11 Living Memorial project and a piece of steel from the World Trade Center will be on display. The students, Madeleine Prior, Kelly Saiz and Katherine Moncure, will discuss Fairfield County's response on 9/11, with a particular focus on education and religion.

"We were in second grade on 9/11, so meeting people who were in leadership positions on 9/11 and learning about their experiences was enlightening to us," Moncure said. Prior was in Hong Kong on 9/11/2001 and so her perspective of the event was different than that of the other students.

"My headmaster came in to talk to all of us about the fact that two buildings had collapsed and people had died," she said. "But I didn't really understand the implications until I started hearing accounts of the day from people who really experienced it."

The project is sponsored by a grant from the New Canaan Young Women's League. The students will discuss the significance of the social barriers that were broken down after the 2001 attacks. Their research will be included in the VOICES 9/11 Living Memorial project, an online digital archive which commemorates the almost 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 and tells the personal stories of survivors and rescuers. Interviewees include administrators from the New Canaan elementary schools, Staples High School, the Unitarian Church in Westport, the Congregational Church in New Canaan, New Canaan High School, and several others.

The presentation will take place at New Canaan Library's Lamb Room at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15. All are welcome to attend and refreshments will be served.