Pupils' efforts honor memory of Sept. 11
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

Pupils at the Goetz Middle School, Jackson, have created a display of tiles that portrays their emotions about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

JACKSON - A Sept. 11 sculpture made from tiles created by students at the Goetz Middle School has been unveiled.

The artistic tiles, which convey the thoughts and feelings of the students, were created last year by sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade pupils in response to the terrorist attack on America which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

"For the fifth year 9/11 commemoration I spoke to the children about the true meaning of art," art teacher Annette Heyman said. "People think art is synonymous with beauty, but I explained to them that it is also very important in our world to make a statement and to make people see things as well as read about them."

Heyman said with that in mind, she and the students discussed symbolism and how the events of 9/11 could be symbolized instead of just showing the World Trade Center and the hijacked airplanes which attacked them.

PHOTOS BY DAVE BENJAMIN

"I gave each [student] a piece of clay, which they rolled up and drew their designs into the clay," she said. "Then they fired, painted and glazed them."

Heyman said although she knew about art, she did not know how to grout the tiles.

"I happened to mention to that class of sixth-graders that it was a shame I didn't know how to do this," she said. "By coincidence, a paraprofessional (Mary Szur-nicki) was in the room and she said her husband served [in New York City during 9/11] and he might be interested in helping to bring the project to completion. So I asked her to ask him and she came back and said he was very excited about it."

Heyman said she showed Charles Szurnicki the plan to put the tiles into the shape of 9/11.

"He just took it from there and went with it," the art teacher said.

Over the summer Szurnicki took the 64 tiles and created a sculpture which formed the numbers 9/11. The sculpture is about 6 feet tall and is mounted on a board.

Szurnicki said he was inspired to contribute his efforts to the students' project because he had worked in forensic recovery when 9/11 occurred.

"It meant something to me," he said. "I worked at the [Fresh Kills] landfill in Staten Island for 18 years as an oiler. I worked on the heavy equipment."

The huge landfill was the location where debris from ground zero in lower Manhattan was taken and where the remains of victims were recovered. Szurnicki said this fact made the students' project special for him and gave him the impetus to use the tiles for the sculpture.

"They [the students] did an assembly that took about 45 minutes to an hour," he said. "We unveiled the sculpture to everybody. I felt great doing it. It was therapy for me, actually being able to commemorate 9/11, and I was happy to do it for the children."

Szurnicki said the students put a lot of effort into each special tile.

"It's a piece of art," he said.

Szurnicki also donated a patch that commemorates the forensic recovery efforts that were made in the months after the attack.

"I thought it would be a nice part of their memorial," he said.

Carrie DePasquale, 12, said her feelings about Sept. 11 translated into a tile depicting a plane going straight through a big red heart.

"Because that's kind of what happened," Carrie said. "The plane didn't just go through the building, it went through our hearts."

Katelyn Tran, 12, came up with a tile which shows a woman crying big blue tears.

"I wanted to paint a ringing telephone, because that's what was happening all over," she said. "People all over were getting phone calls with this terrible news. But I ended up drawing a woman crying because she was getting one of those phone calls."

Carrie and Katelyn were in second grade in September 2001 and said they did not know what had happened until they came home to their families that day. They said the 9/11 tile sculpture will have a lasting effect because it will be a reminder for students who are even younger than they are as the years go on.

"They are going to learn about it in social studies, but they might not really get it," Katelyn said. "This [project] is something kids did that can help [students who follow] understand what kids really thought about it after it happened."

Carrie said the project will also help future students understand that expressing yourself can create something beautiful and help people get through bad events.

"They'll walk by and realize that a bad thing happened, but that people can get through it," Carrie said. "It is something positive that we did to remember what happened."