PITTSBURGH
— Laura Beachy's sixth-grade teacher at Eagle View Elementary was supposed to
turn off the television on Sept. 11, 2001, to keep the children from panicking
after terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and just 15 miles from their
school in Somerset.
Despite
the district's orders, the teacher turned on the television, closed the door and
drew the blinds so her students could watch as history unfolded before them.
"You
didn't think it was real. You thought it was a movie or a joke at first," said
Beachy, 22. "But then you saw the adults. They are supposed to be the people who
have all the answers and provide safety and comfort. That day, they didn't have
the answers, and everybody needed comfort."
Eleven
years after watching the events of 9/11 unfold on a small screen in her
classroom, Beachy is putting the finishing touches on a documentary she hopes to
bring to the big screen at film festivals.
The
documentary, "We Were Quiet Once," looks at how the crash of United Flight 93 in
Stonycreek Township affected people on the ground in Somerset County.
Beachy
began the project in April 2010 while she was a student at Syracuse University
majoring in television, radio and film, and anthropology.
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review Sept. 28, 2012
