Do you remember where you were 25 years ago today? I was in 2nd grade, Mrs. Sewell's class. I loved Mrs. Sewell. Fond memories of her and my class are still vibrant in my mind, even 25 years later. That was the first year I was involved in the Gifted and Talented Program. We had spent the first part of the year studying the space program. Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher to go into space. We learned about the Challenger and the experiments that Mrs. McAuliffe was going to do while in space. I was so excited to watch the launch at school that morning. We had been talking about it for at least 6 months and I was thrilled. We had moved our desks to the back of the class that day. We only had one TV for the 2nd grade, so we all had to smush into one class. The teachers turned out the lights and we huddled on the floor to watch the shuttle take off. I remember watching the explosion and then looking around at the teachers wondering what happened. No one said a word, us kids just kept looking at each other and then back at our teachers. Mrs. Sewell and the other teachers started to cry softly and hug each other. Even with the tears and hugs, we still didn't understand. Finally, Mrs. Sewell came to the front of the class and turned off the TV. She told us that something had gone wrong with the launch and that there had been an accident.
That night, my mom came home and we watched the reports on TV. They just kept showing the explosion, over and over. Even now, it brings me to tears. This was the first event in my life that connected millions of people together. The first event that I can say, I know where I was. I even remember what I was wearing that day…
