A Northeast Philadelphia School Honors a 9/11 Survivor and Friend
By Michelle Durham
A Catholic school in Northeast Philadelphia got another visit today from a 9/11 survivor whom the school "adopted" following that terrible tragedy.
Ling Young survived the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center by walking down more than 70 flights of stairs in the South Tower.
Following a newspaper article detailing the suffering of those like Young who were struggling to recover, students in the 6th grade at Nazareth Academy began to write her.
And as they grew and graduated, other students at Nazareth picked up where the Class of 2004 left off.
Young says the cards and letters have meant so much, and she's saved every single one.
"I'm in the process of trying to make them into a scrapbook," she told KYW Newsradio today.
Young has visited Nazareth Academy several times in the years since 2001, and today the school held a special assembly in Young's honor.
Andrea Apice, who was in the 6th grade in 2001, says she can remember the events of 9/11 and Young's first visit.
"We really didn't understand the cause of it," Apace says, "but by the time we graduated we matured and realized it was really something serious -- a tragedy. And we were able to lighten someone's life."
