School+Life+Map

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__**Time of Passion:**__ During the beginning of my middle grade years the area I grew up in went through several traumatic events. These events begun with Sept 11th. Although everyone across the nation felt the loss; for me it was way too close to home. I lived so close to D.C., had a parent who worked in D.C, and personally knew people who lost family in the attacks; I soon became terrified of where I lived. As we all began to heal my community was hit with another tragic event, an F-4 tornado. Seeing the town that I had lived in all my life disappear so quickly gave me a huge feeling of instability. Yet again as my community began to rebuild we were hit with more tragedy, the beltway sniper. The three weeks this man was on the streets were some of the scariest moments of my life. People were getting killed all around my area; no one knew where he was or who he was going to attack. For the majority of my middle grade experience I lived in fear but I came through all of these experiences with the help of amazing teachers and family members who hid their own fear so they could help me deal with mine.

**Comments from Dr. Y:** //Dear Alex, I am really sorry to hear about all of the adversity you and your community and school endured during this time frame. We had lived in Fredericksburg, VA, around the time of the sniper attacks, and that was certainly a scary time. And, my daughter was less than 3 months old when 9-11 occurred. I'll never forget that day. So, so important that you had amazing teachers and family to help you work through your fear and channel it. I hope you see ways to provide that kind of support to your own students in the future. Nice work here, Alex. Best, Dr. Y//