The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is located at the site of the World Trade Center. The memorial pays tribute to those who lost their lives in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania as a result of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Two reflecting pools, each nearly an acre in size, sit at the base where the former Twin Towers once stood. The museum has 110,000 square feet of exhibition space dedicated to multimedia displays, archives and artifacts from the attacks.

On June 7th, a group of 20 CCIP (www.theccip.com) students visited the memorial and museum. The activity was organized by Tsz Kwan Kong (Tiffany), a student from the City University of Hong Kong. The museum is free to visitors on Tuesday evenings, so Tiffany arranged for a small group of students to arrive early and wait in line for tickets for the whole group.

"It was good that students could help me out," Tiffany said. "It was a good lesson for me to understand that a leader knows when to ask for help. I felt like this was an important activity, so I'm very happy that everything went so smoothly and I learned a lot."

While the group was excited to see the memorial for themselves, and even took a group photo before traveling to the site, they also understood the solemn nature of the memorial. Standing next to the reflecting pools, they gained a better understanding of the massive scale of destruction. The wall of photos inside the museum also reinforced just how personal the attacks were.

Tiffany reflected on the visit: "Hearing the stories of those who lost their lives was very touching. It was sad at times, but there is also such a feeling of peace and understanding being in there. It's a good reminder to value the people in your lives. I know it made all of us in the program feel closer together."