Sept. 11 recalled at school

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on September 14, 2007

As Superintendent Jere Hochman sat in the Middle School cafeteria doing some work on his laptop computer Tuesday, he started reflecting on the meaning of the day, Sept. 11, and its impact on the students eating lunch nearby.

"It's odd that it's not only Sept. 11, but it's a Tuesday, so that causes an extra chill," he told School Committee members at their meeting that night.

Six years ago, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing thousands of people, it was also a Tuesday.

On this Tuesday, a teacher was showing slides in the cafeteria with images from around the world of the outpouring of sympathy for the victims.

"It was a nice remembrance of the day," Hochman said.

He reflected that the students eating lunch and watching the show had been in first and second grade when the world-changing attacks occurred. Since then, it seems wherever they turn, they hear words like "terrorism" that previous generations probably heard not much at all, he said.

But it struck Hochman that school was a good place for the students to be, a "safe haven," and that "when things get tough we'll be there for them."

<h4>Chinese school</h4>

The first day of kindergarten can be really tough - especially for the parents. Luckily for Larry Kelley, he can see daughter Kira's school from the free weights room at his gym, the Amherst Athletic Club, on West Street.

Kira, who Kelley and wife Donna Johnson Kelley adopted from China five years ago, is going to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Charter School just a stone's throw away. About 40 children attend the school, which held classes for the first time on Aug. 30.

"She just loves the whole experience," Kelley said. And she should be a good judge. Kira not only attends kindergarten Monday through Friday, she comes back to the school on Sunday with her mother to attend Amherst Chinese School. A nonprofit organization established in 1976, it had been meeting at the Middle School until this year. Anyone in the area with an interest in Chinese culture and language can attend.

Kira already has gotten kudos from her teacher for her Chinese characters, the symbols used instead of letters which can be difficult to learn to write. "That's the hardest part," Kelley said. "Apparently, you can speak Chinese a lot easier than you can write Chinese doing the proper characters."

<h4>Inspirational story</h4>

Here's an inspiration story about school children that jazz legend Wynton Marsalis told the audience at the Iron Horse in Northampton, where he played for two nights in August. At least two members of the Amherst Regional High School Jazz Ensemble were there and they said it was great.

A lot of musicians play so many gigs, the concerts start to blend into each other and a musician can forget what happened where, Marsalis said.

But he remembers an event in Chicago, where the mayor is there and local school children playing xylophones have been trotted out and Marsalis is sitting there next to some jazz great. They're watching a row of students playing the xylophones, when everybody starts to notice that the smallest student, about 8 years old, is standing with his mallets poised above the instrument, looking as though he's concentrating deeply. But he isn't playing a note.

Everyone is filled with suspense wondering if he is going to play. Finally, it gets to the last note, and he hits it. Then the little kid looks up the line to the tallest kid, who may be his brother, as if for approval, and the older kid gives it to him in the form of a nod. The little kid looks so proud. And the jazz great sitting next to Marsalis turns to him and says, "THAT is how we should play music all the time."

Please contact Mary Carey with ideas for School Zone at mary.carey@att.net.