Collection of firsthand accounts of 9/11 headed to the Library of Congress

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - A collection of their firsthand accounts will become part of the archived history of 9-11 and be preserved by the Library of Congress, all because a then-16-year-old high school journalist decided to tell the stories of the students who saw the Twin Towers fall before their eyes. 

Joseph Fenity convinced his high school administrators to allow him to travel to New York City to interview students at Stuyvesant High School, which was just three blocks away from Ground Zero.

"It's such a dark, sad moment in American history, and where's the light, and what's missing? And in my heart and mind, what I knew was missing was the kids." Fenity told ABC-7.

Fenity said a feeling of hopelessness led him to seek the voice of those youth who were taken out of their classrooms with nowhere to go as the Twin Towers collapsed to the ground. 

"8:46 [a.m.], I was in history class and all of a sudden, the school shook, and we heard a loud noise, and you look out the window, and there's a big hole, and there's lots of debris — debris and smoke rising up." Fenity told ABC-7 what he was thinking while he saw the news reports, "I was 16 years old, watching ABC, watching all the TV networks and stations, and I was like, I see adults talking to other adults. I see grown-ups talking to other grown-ups. Where are the kids?"

Fenity recorded students retelling their accounts of what happened weeks after 9/11, and the collection of unedited tapes is now part of the American Folk Life Center Archives at the Library of Congress.  

"I think it's more important now than ever before to talk about 9/11, remember 9/11, because it's been a generation. There was something really, really special about America. There was something really amazing about America, and there was a patriotism that was happening in the country. About five seconds after 9/11, about three to five seconds after 9/11, everyone came together. Everyone came together. Everyone had each other's backs, and America was one."