Kelly Saiz, a rising senior at New Canaan High School said the 9/11 attacks 10 years ago are her generation's Pearl Harbor.

Saiz spent her summer as an intern at Voices of September 11th. She and fellow intern Madeleine Prior shared what they learned from the experience with an audience gathered at the New Canaan Library on Monday, Aug 16.

Prior, Saiz and Catherine Moncure met with community leaders in New Canaan and in other Fairfield County towns who discussed their firsthand impressions and recollections of the events of September 11, 2001, and the days immediately following.

Their work, supported by the New Canaan Young Women's League, is part of the Voice of September 11th's, 9/11 Living Memorial Project.

The interns were introduced by Voice's Founding Director, Mary Fetchet, who praised the work done by the interns and said, "Our work should be an inspiration to young students. You should be involved, and can be, in our government."

Their presentation included quotes from interview subjects chosen because they reflected the themes the interns found throughout their conversations. They also shared a video with excerpts from their interviews, artwork from children done at the time and television and newspaper accounts of the events.

One of the overriding themes they stressed from all of their meetings was that out of tragedy came hope and a strong sense of community.

They saw this in priests and ministers who discussed religious gatherings with their congregations that filled their churches to capacity. 

They spoke with principals and teachers who recounted the various ways schools dealt with the crisis, always keeping in mind the age-range of children in their care. Given our proximity to the site of the event, they were also keenly aware that they may have students who were directly affected by the attacks.

The interns said they learned that in schools teachers and students gathered together to share the news as a group and to seek comfort from one another.

Emergency responders discussed the feeling of community that was demonstrated in each town.

The interns talked about emergency room professionals who rushed to the site of the World Trade Center, and about those who served by remaining behind and covering emergency needs of adjacent towns whose ranks were depleted. And they recalled the desire of local citizens to help in some way, often setting up collections sites for water and clothing.

Prior said many interview subjects reported a feeling of frustration, the sense that those of us in this area were so close, so likely to know someone affected, yet so helpless to do anything.

Before the presentation, Prior, who was living in Hong Kong at the time of the attacks, and who just recently became a U.S. citizen, told Patch she was inspired by what she learned this summer.

The stories she heard made her realize, "there's something amazing and admirable in human nature ... out of tragedy there's hope and support of community." She added, "people adapted and made good out of tragedy."