By MARY BAILEY The Reporter
The tragic event of Sept 11, 2001, which not only killed almost 3,000 people but destroyed the World Trade Center happened over a decade before he was even born, but seventh grader Danny Plascenia of Douglas Middle School can tell you things about the towers far beyond his years.
Morgan Roe’s seventh grade class at Douglas Middle School were given a “Historical Figure Project” to complete.
According to Roe, the historical figures didn’t have to be American but someone who made an impact on history.
“We had students bring in Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller, Albert Einstein and some students even did Jesus as their historical figure,” Roe said. “Danny chose Minoru Yamasaki.”
Yamasaki, a Japanese American architect, is best known for designing the World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. He was called one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century.
Plascenia, who first began his quest for knowledge of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in first grade, made a four-foot-tall replica of the towers, even topping one tower with a miniature American flag from the 9/11 memorial site he visited over the summer.
“I made it all,” Plascenia said proudly.
The hand-made replica included both north and south towers, the Austin J. Tobin Plaza, Marriot Hotel and even a tiny rope adjoining the towers at the top.
The tiny rope represented when French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walked 131 feet between the Twin Towers with no net in August of 1974.
Figurines were placed all around the towers as to represent a time before September 2001.
“This is World Trade Center 7, it actually collapsed too,” Plascenia said as he pointed to different buildings around his replica. “It was the first building to burn from steel.”
Plascenia and his family visited the 9/11 memorial site over the summer, and he said it’s something he will always remember.
“It was kind of sad. I saw the fire fighter truck; I think it was ladder nine or seven,” he continued. “The Twin Towers are beautiful. They mean a lot to me, and I just want the Twin Towers to be back.”
Plascenia said he is at least glad that Yamasaki wasn’t alive to see what he created be destroyed.
“He would have been so sad at the towers just falling. He built it because he wanted to beat his fear of heights, I guess,” he said. “We should always remember September 11.
Roe said she is so impressed with Plascenia’s knowledge of the towers.
“A lot of students have asked if I asked him to build this and I said no, he chose to do this. A lot of the students are amazed that Danny took the incitive to do that,” Roe said of her student. “Danny knows the most about the Twin Towers out of anyone I’ve ever met. One day Danny was telling me facts about 9/11, not necessarily about the attack but about the Twin Towers themselves. He pulled up a video of a band playing in the plaza.”
Roe said all the students who have stopped by her class to see the replica are just amazed.
“Everyone has been really impressed with Danny’s model. Asking how he did it, what’s it made out of and how it’s still standing. It’s just awesome that Danny is so interested in American History. I know a lot of kids obsess over video games and things like that, but Danny really takes to American History. He focuses on it. I really didn’t know what this was going to be like when he told me he was building this model, but he came in with this tiny model and then the second model was a little bigger and then he told me about the bigger model. When he told me how big it is I thought, oh my goodness. Like he is really, really into this. I am very impressed and so proud of him,” Roe said.
“He comes in telling all of us so many facts, it’s always about the Twin Towers and what an amazing structure they were and how sad he is that he didn’t get to see them. You can tell he really wishes he could have seen them.”
