What it’s all about
The attacks on New York City in September 2001 - now known simply as 911 - changed the world forever, writes Georgina Hodgson, a 16-year-old pupil at Chulmleigh Community College.
But when I entered the 911 London Project’s National Schools Competition, and wrote my essay about the tragedy, it made me think more deeply about the effects that rippled around the world, all stemming from that day.
I won the competition by writing a series of letters to an imaginary friend who lived in New York and had perished in the disaster. In my essay I touched on the racism that has affected so many people since then.
At my school in Devon, everyone knows each other and there are few ethnic minorities. London, to me, seemed a mix of every possible culture. But when I travelled to New York with the 911 London Project it felt like a conglomeration of everything in the world.
One of the other students who travelled with me to New York was Ayse Akgol, a Muslim living in Lancashire. She said that when she told people she was a Muslim some of them would turn away and change their attitude towards her.
My experience with the 911 London Project has given me a greater insight into the differences in society, and also the need to educate young people about why you should not discriminate just because someone is different from you.
For more details on the 911 London Project, visit 911londonproject.com
What else?
Investigate the effect the 911 attacks had on the world with the 911 Education Programme’s resources, created in partnership with the University of London’s Institute of Education, bit.lytes911.
