Last Monday, the VOICES summer interns journeyed into the city to visit the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. As the college interns of the group, we were in second grade at the time of the attacks. Immersed in the images and audio of the exhibitions, we heard the first-hand accounts of victims, first-responders, and survivors. The experience will forever be ingrained in our minds, as the museum exposed the gravity of September 11 that we did not fully comprehend from the shelter of our elementary school classrooms.

The hustle of the city is almost silenced by the pools that cascade deep into the ground at the 9/11 Memorial site.  The solemn hum of the pools, the trees draping - creating shadows over the onlookers, the Freedom Tower, and the 9/11 Memorial Museum - shapes the somber atmosphere created as one reflects on the enormity of September 11th, 2001. At the Memorial Museum, people reflected on the day when nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

Although today is only Wednesday, this week has already been full of excitement in the lives of our VOICES interns. Monday, we started off our day by heading into the city and getting a firsthand look at the National September 11th Memorial Museum. The day we had been anticipating and looking forward to all summer did not disappoint.

On July 13th, the program director of our New Brunswick office, Carrie Miller, organized a trip to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City with 9/11 responders and survivors from Middlesex County, New Jersey. Carrie, a licensed clinical social worker, accompanied them as they toured the museum and listened to their shared memories of September 11, 2001.

I’m a very curious person. When I am at a restaurant, I frequently check out the people seated nearby and wonder what their stories are. At school, I have struggled to identify my major and minor because there are so many subjects that appeal to me. When I am praying at church, I wonder why the ‘norm’ is that we bow our heads and close our eyes. So, after reading the article, “New York’s 9/11 Museum: What Should We Think about the Event Now?” written by Janet Davison of CBC News, I felt a connection to the theme.