LEWISTON — Brandon Tiner and other seniors in a government class at Lewiston High School on Friday studied a piece of history etched in their childhoods.

He and his classmates were second-graders when hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. They knew something bad had happened, but they were confused.

“I was attending Montello (Elementary School),” said Tiner, now 17. “We were out on the playground. My friend’s mom came over and said goodbye. She was supposed to get on a plane.”

Students were called in from recess and the school went into lockdown because of a nearby robbery, Tiner said. Emily Dixon, who was also a student at Montello, said she wasn’t sure whether the lockdown was because of the robbery or the terror attacks.

Mackenzie Sullivan was in a Pettingill Elementary class when a teacher came into the room, crying. Her teacher left to look at the television in the teachers’ room. “We all followed her,” Sullivan said. “We saw smoke from a building. We had no idea what was going on.”

Teachers everywhere were crying, students recalled. “Everything was a big scare,” Tiner said.

In their high school class Friday, images appeared on a screen as teacher Michelle Crowley walked through the day.

“The North Tower was hit at 8:46,” Crowley said. “We’re seeing the response by fire and rescue. Meanwhile, American 77 is hijacked. It left Dulles and is headed due west. It was hijacked and turned back for the Pentagon.”

Crowley showed a slide of President George W. Bush in a classroom with young students being told about the attacks. “Almost 30 minutes later, United 93 is hijacked. It left Newark, N.J. What happened with United 93?” Crowley asked.

“Passengers overtook it and made it crash,” one boy answered.

The class went over the South Tower collapsing, then the north, how flights were grounded, how no one knew if the attacks were over. “It was a long and horrifying day,” Crowley said.

The class also talked about President Bush sending troops into Afghanistan, then Iraq.

Much of the world regards the United States’ reaction to 9/11 as overboard, Crowley said. “On the flip side, had we not reacted in such a strong and decisive way, what kind of message may that have sent?”

“We’re weak; come get us,” one student said.

Crowley went over their assignment, which was to write an essay evaluating the country’s response to 9/11, examining whether it was in line with values in the U.S. Constitution.

After class, Crowley said her goal is for students to examine the facts and to understand “not everything’s clear-cut. They have to wrestle with these questions as they’re figuring out what’s important.”

Before they study history, students often have strong notions, Crowley said. “I’m trying to challenge those notions so they’re able to see both sides, to understand people’s arguments. I want them to make up their own minds.”

Kevin Shrader, 17, said one big way 9/11 changed the country was with high security at airports. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t let anything like that happen again,” he said.

[email protected]