By: Emily Briselli

8:45 AM, September 11, 2001.

It was a moment our country and world changed forever.

As the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 unfolded in New York City and Washington, D.C., the world stopped and held its breath. Both across the world and right here in Hershey, no one knew what was happening. But worst of all, no one knew what might happen next.

“They told us to turn on the TVs so students could watch history happening,” said HHS English teacher Michelle O’Brien, whose first year at Derry Township School District began just weeks before the attacks.

Hershey High School students spent the beginning of that school day in an assembly, after which teachers received an email from the then-principal Mike Murphy regarding the initial plane crash. Shortly thereafter, the second plane hit, and the severity of the situation became devastatingly clear: America was under attack.

Like the rest of the world, Hershey High School students and staff glued their eyes to the television, frightened and confused at the unthinkable footage that flashed across the screen before them.

As the footage from the attacks played repeatedly, and new reports continued to surface, O’Brien described an “overwhelming sense of silence.” Parents began to arrive throughout the day to pull their children out of school, adding to the confusion and concern. Despite this, O’Brien praised the school for the way they responded to the attacks.  Even though the students were scared, O’Brien recalled that HHS was still a place that they associated with safety and security, and that put students’ minds more at ease.

O’Brien would not realize until later that day just how impactful the attacks of September 11 would be on her life. That night, she sat in a friend’s house in utter shock, listening to her sobbing husband explain to her over the phone that Michael Horrocks had been the first officer of United Flight 175 that crashed into the second tower. Horrocks, a married father of two, was the brother of O’Brien’s brother-in-law, and his tragic death changed everything about the attacks for O’Brien.

“When you know someone that died that day, it changes it very much,” O’Brien said, adding that Michael’s death “made [9/11] very big and very small at the same time.”

Hershey High School Gifted Support teacher Colette Silvestri echoed O’Brien’s sentiment, whose experience on September 11, 2001 will also continue to shape her life.

At the time of the attacks, Silvestri was working as a Senate research analyst at the Pennsylvania State Capitol. She was in the midst of planning the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reunion, which was to be held the last Saturday of September. Silvestri was also scheduled to pick up the budget for this event in the Pentagon on September 12, 2001.

Silvestri was at the PA State Capital the morning of September 11, and her heart dropped when news broke of the plane that had crashed into the Pentagon. She knew that in that building was the team of people she had been working with to plan the CCC reunion; people that she would never see again because of the hijacking of Flight 77.

Silvestri said that when she got news of her colleagues’ deaths, the tragedy and loss of the day truly sunk in.

“Sometimes you don’t really take into consideration what’s actually happening until someone dies,” Silvestri said.

Among those lost that day were Molly McKenzie, who worked in the budgeting office and was to meet Silvestri the next day, and Sandra Teague, the fiancee of Frank Huffman, whom Silvestri was also working closely with on the project. Teague was aboard Flight 77 when it was hijacked and crashed into her fiancee’s building as he watched from a nearby naval overlook in horror.

“Had I picked it up one day early at the Pentagon,” Silvestri said, “I likely would’ve been dead.”

Silvestri remembers her former partners on the project fondly, adding that the work of Molly McKenzie is the reason that National Public Lands Day exists today. Silvestri’s testament serves as a reminder that the lives lost  on 9/11 were of hardworking, kind colleagues and friends for many of those around us today.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 killed 2,977 people, according to CNN. Though it has been 15 years since the morning that reshaped our nation, there are teachers, staff, and students walking the halls of HHS that live with its aftermath everyday.