Alan Jackson, in a country song introduced at the Country Music Association's annual awards show on Nov. 7, 2001, asked the question “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)? For Calabasas sixth-graders, who were three and four years old on Sept. 11, 2001, that question recalls a distant memory. Andrea Sanchez was at her fourth birthday party and Victor Miranda, then three years old, was on the couch with his mother. He remembered seeing the plane (s) on television, Miranda said.

SEPT. 11, 2001, REMEMBERED

The pair took part in a special 9-ll remembrance at Calabasas Middle School Friday. They were two of six students who read essays they wrote about the events and the heroes of Sept. 11 during the ceremony. Miranda said he got his information for the essay from a book his teacher read to the class. “Some of the thoughts I made up, and they just came from the heart.”

The origins of Calabasas’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony stem from an e-mail sixth-grade teacher Neice Griego received from her daughter, Holly, on Sept. 17, 2001. Holly lived in New York City, and had recently lost a friend in the attack on the twin towers. “For almost a week now the bustling city of New York has been reduced to a murmur. People have stopped rushing and started strolling, looking up at the blue sky instead of concentrating on the hard pavement. We have started to recognize the people around us and paused to think about those who are no longer with us. This has been a time of reflection filled with moments of generous community involvement,” the e-mail read in part.

And so it was Friday with Calabasas students as they read and reflected on President George W. Bush’s address to the nation, a poem, “The Lady,” by Carol D. Shields and select student essays on the subject. The Words Can Heal pledge, a moment of silence and Taps by three eighth-grade musicians concluded the solemn ceremony.

Sixth-grade language arts teacher Donna Bazzl organized this year’s ceremony, the eighth for Calabasas. “One of our other teachers, Neice Griego, her daughter lived in Manhattan and lost friends. She had written and said she needed to come home and see her family after that. When she came home, the students made posters and collected money. She took them back and they put them up at the fire station that was closest to the twin towers.

“That year, when she was here, we decided we would have a small ceremony to honor those victims and heroes,” Bazzl said. “It was her daughter, Holly, who lived in Manhattan. We just continued to do it every year, so this is our ninth year of honoring those people who were killed or were heroes. We just want them (students) to remember what happened then.”

Holly Greigo still lives in New York City, Neice Greigo said. “The e-mail tells about the aftermath and the unsung heroes, the ones that were not firefighters or policemen, the individual citizens who did outstanding things.”

Holly was 23 at the time of the Sept. 11 attack, Greigo said. “She had just graduated from college and was living and working in New York City. She came here shortly afterwards and addressed the students. Here company was Deutsche Bank at the time, and they matched the money we raised (for victim’s families). It was $1,000, so we were able to give $2,000.”

Holley married a young man in June whose good friend was killed in the World Trade Center, Greigo said. “It’s a very difficult day for them. I think it is for many people in New York City.”

This year, sixth-grade students put forth thoughts from the heart about Sept. 11 in their essays. Victor Miranda is one of a half-dozen students who shared their essays with the class during the ceremony. Miranda wrote about the heroes that caused one flight to crash in a Pennsylvania field. “Those heroes were very brave and really courageous to do that,” Miranda said.

There are still people who have that kind of courage today, Miranda said.

Miranda remembers Sept. 11, 2001. “I was on the couch with my mom and we just saw the plane but not much else.”

The event changed him “a little bit,” Miranda said. “Still, we need to move forward and try to live life and do things for everybody.”

Miranda took the words of the Words Can Heal Pledge to heart �“ “I will try to replace words that hurt with words that encourage, engage and enrich �“ I will not become discouraged when I am unable to choose words perfectly, because making the world a better place is hard work. �“ I am helping to do that, one word at a time.” “I think everybody is the same. It doesn’t matter what color. Everybody is the same,” Miranda said.

Andrea Sanchez had her fourth birthday interrupted by Sept. 11 events, she said. She doesn’t remember much about it though, she said.

Andrea’s mother, Jemil, recalls the day. “She was four years old, and instead of telling her ‘Happy Birthday,’ we were watching the news to see what was going on. It’s a sad day for all the people who lost their families �“ husbands and mothers. We hope that doesn’t happen anymore.”

Andrea wrote about how the terrorists couldn’t scare us, she said. “They couldn’t make this (America) a dark place.”

The memorial ceremony helped Andrea, she said. “It made me braver �“ to face my fears.”