Changed by 9/11: The O'Rourke Family

Dan O’Rourke, a resource room teacher at James Wilson Young Middle School in the Bayport-Blue Point School District, took an in-service class on how to utilize iMovie in the classroom.

For the 8-10 minute constructive project, he chose to create a video for the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. (Watch the video on YouTube in the gallery above.)

“I was looking to do something special with my students this year for the Sept. 11 10th anniversary,” he said. “Once I was assigned the class project, it became my goal.”

He teaches sixth to eighth grade students, who were only 2 years old to 4 years old when the terrorist attacks occurred.

“So much has happened since then,” he said. “I think it is very important to share this history with my students. They have seen the events of the recent past. This is a way to tie it all together.”

The goal of his video was to create a compilation that shows what happened on Sept. 11, emphasizing the events of that day and connecting it to the critical events over the past 10 years.

“With that, I also wanted to pay tribute to all those lost and wounded due to the events of 9-11 and the war,” he said. “It is important that our youth experience and understand these tragic events and how their world and future has been shaped due to these events.

As tragic as that day was, it is also important to show our youth how much good can come from such a tragic event.

“Differences were put aside and people reached out to each other. It didn't matter who you were or where you were from. We were all united on that day. Heroes came from all different places in our great nation, the United States.”

Dan lives with his wife Chris and family in Ronkonkoma. They both recall that day like it was yesterday.

“It was a frightening realization of what could happen in an instant,” Chris said. “I will never forget every detail of that day.”

From the minute she left the house driving to work, she listened all the way to Glen Cove as things unfolded. Finally reaching her office, and watching F-16 fighter jets flying overhead, I watched the second tower crumble in the background on the TV in my office.

“It was surreal,” she said.