4th graders treat first responders

Heather Bailey knows exactly where she was on Sept. 11, 2001, when she heard about the terrorist attacks.

She was a seventh grader, and still remembers watching news coverage and the horror of that day.

“Some parts of it we probably shouldn’t have watched,” she said.

As a fourth grade teacher at Andalusia Elementary School, she said she feels it’s important to teach students about that part of the nation’s history.

“I want to make them aware of that day and how it affected our country,” she said, adding that she tries to find age-appropriate images with which to tell the story.

She also makes sure the students know that they should express their thanks to those who put their lives on the line in big and small emergencies. So this week, fourth graders brought treats to school – ranging from homemade brownies to Little Debbie cakes. The treats were sorted and delivered to the Andalusia Fire Department, the Andalusia Police Department and Advanced EMS.

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At APD, the students met Officer Nic Ireland, who was a U.S. Marine on that fateful day in 2001.

“We were on a three day field operation,” he said. “All of a sudden, we started seeing commanders called in, and we weren’t sure what had happened.”

He said in the hours that followed, it was very obvious to him and his Marine brothers that America was headed to war.

“It was on,” he said.

While Ireland was in a military police unit that was not deployed, his brother, also a Marine, has been to Iraq.