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Dawning of the Day - Greenwich High School remembers September 11th

Students and staff gather for a powerful ceremony.

On the morning of Monday Sept. 12, the  Student Center was virtually empty and resembled a Friday afternoon at 5 PM. While there were a few people moving around, the striking difference was that the tables and chairs were pushed to the sides creating a one acre blank canvas. But not for long...

Around 10:20 AM, students were released from their classes and began filing into the Student Center painting the blank canvas. The entire community gathered, a rare occurrence for 3,000 students. They did so today to mark a significant occasion that calls for rare occurrence.

Back in 2001, these high school students were ages 4 -7. For them, it has been a decade of growing up not in the literal shadows of the World Trade Towers, but growing up under the American Flag with the threads of 9-11 woven deep into the fabric.

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In Greenwich and other towns and cities across America, the bubble popped. Prior to 2001, an attack on U.S. soil didn't seem possible, but for these young adults the language of terrorism is not a foreign one.

So on this morning, in remembrance of what occurred a decade ago, not overseas but on American soil, the GHS Community came together.

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And the stage was set: Assistant Dean in Folsom House and French teacher Kerry Gavin stood on the landing of the Media Center stairwell where he played "Amazing Grace." Students Warren Bein and Maya Fakundiny stood atop Clark and Sheldon Houses ready to echo "Taps".

At 10:27 AM, Headmaster Chris Winters started with the reaction here in Greenwich and elsewhere in our country saying that 10 years ago, "we stood stunned." He was flanked be First Selectman Peter Tesei, an honor guard and GHS staff members.

A moment of silence began at 10:28 AM - to coincide with the collapse of the second tower. After which Winters spoke about the victims - ALL of the victims -  at the Pentagon, those on the airplanes, and the occupants of the World Trade Center. He spoke of the other heroes of the events; the police officers, the fire fighters, the paramedics, the port authority officers. Yes, all the victims and acknowledging "we live that grief."

Haunting best describes the next words that Winters spoke during the 10-minute ceremony as he equated the number of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the Student Center to roughly the number of victims loss on that day. The students and staff looked around 360 at the visual Winters had so honestly laid at their feet.

Winters offered that the lives of the victims were not lost in vein, but rather than the tragedy has actually united our country in basic ideals and respect.

Also speaking was student government President William Sadock, a senior who addressed his peers.

Sadock said he and his classmates certainly understand what has transpired in our country over the past decade. After all, they have been "witnesses" and are far from "ignorant of the pain and suffering" Americans have experienced because of September 11.

Sadock implored that this generation "do our small part." He asked the thousands below him in the Student Center to "never forget" those serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, but even "our struggling neighbors home and abroad."

In addition and in recognition of 9/11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, GHS clubs organized two events on Saturday, Sept. 10.

The students organized a Greenwich Cares Clothing Drive at as well as an Environmental Action Campus Cleanup at GHS.

In continuing their tradition of assisting those less fortunate, the staff and students of GHS are once again supporting those right here in Greenwich. They have pledged to collect 2,985 non-perishable food items - one in memory of each life lost on September 11 - for donation to .

Sadock and the other students, who now are part of Generation 9-11, are the leaders of tomorrow leading us into the "Dawning of the Day." Fitting that the music played in the background slightly under the subdued buzz of the Student Center as students returned to class.

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