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American Morning

America's New War: Children in New York Back in School

Aired September 20, 2001 - 09:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Children who went to school in the shadow of New York's World Trade Center got a few days off. But they are finally back at class today in schools outside the lower Manhattan impact area.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa visited one of those schools.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last video that I took just prior to the explosion.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On little Emma's first week of first grade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We walked about 15 steps when we saw the plane just fly directly over our heads. And as soon east it flew over the heads, I thought to myself, you know, why is that plane so low? It was right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. It's gone.

HINOJOSA: Right above Emma's school, just a flew blocks north of the Twin Towers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right from first grade right to explosion.

HINOJOSA: And inside the school...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was amazed that this sort of screaming, and the yelling and the panic in the street.

HINOJOSA: ... first-grade teachers and their 6-year-olds ran for cover.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden, I saw facemasks and police officers bang open the doors and said get out of here, get out now, and my principal said, run, run. I heard people say run for your lives.

HINOJOSA: Wide-eyed with angel faces, Marisa and Emily were in their third-grade classroom during the fires.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were scared. And whenever my mom starts to talk about it that day, she would start to cry, and I'm, like, get a grip! It started like changing my life a long time. And I don't like it. That's one thing, I don't like it.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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