Thursday, October 1, 2026
About 2,000 Hempstead High School students commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by hearing from people personally affected by the tragedy and taking part in a service project benefiting New York homeless children in need.
The Sept. 11 event was part of the “Seeds of Service initiative”, organized by SERVENYS and social justice agency chromatic black in partnership with the Hempstead Union Free School District. By the end of the day, 800 winter relief kits were assembled.
Students began the morning with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the time the first plane struck the North Tower of World Trade Center.
According to a press release on Sept. 12 the room shifted when award winning journalist Cat McKenzie asked students if they have siblings. When hands were raised throughout the auditorium, McKenzie gave the floor to Dawn Gonzalez where he recounted her sister, Jenine who worked in Tower Two and never returned home. The two were not on speaking terms which was something she regretted and expressed the cost of silence and lost time with family cannot be replaced.
They later heard from SERVENYS founder Anthony “AJ” Knight, a Navy veteran who worked at Ground Zero after the attacks. Knight discussed his work helping restore power at Ground Zero and the health problems he later experienced following exposure to toxins at the site. As a result, Knight received treatments for 9/11 related cancers and chronic obtrusive pulmonary disease.
Students turned the day’s lessons about remembrance and resilience into service by assembling 800 winter care packages for children in need across New York. They also created a “Grief and Gratitude Wall”, posting reflections about Sept. 11, gratitude, courage and resilience. Some students wrote what stayed with them from the stories they heard and what resilience and courage looks like in their own eyes.
“One student wrote simply: ‘Never forget those who lost their lives. God bless.’ Another wrote, ‘There’s someone out there who loves you.’” The press release stated.
The emotional commemoration emphasized passing the history and lessons of Sept. 11 to a generation of students who were born years after the attacks while encouraging them to support others through community service.
Hempstead Schools Superintendent Gary Rush noted in reports that the spirit shown in the Commons must be carried year-round.
“Whenever traumatic events like that happen across the country, we band together the most,” Rush said. “We shouldn’t have to have traumatic events to maintain the way that we come together.”
Lamont Johnson, president of the Hempstead Board of Education, reportedly praised the student effort: “Our young people carry real responsibilities on their shoulders every day,” he said. “Hearing these survivors talk about preserving family bonds and pressing forward through illness resonated instantly.
Johnson continued, “they met that message with hard work, dedicating their day to lifting up other children in need.”
