On Sept. 11, 2001, three Washington D.C. elementary school students, along with three teacher chaperones, were on a plane heading to California to study ecology, when, just 35 minutes after takeoff, their plane was hijacked.

At around 9:30 a.m., that plane crashed into the Pentagon, killing everyone on board and 125 Pentagon employees. 

On this day, some 24 years after the tragic events of 9/11, the District of Columbia Public Schools Facebook page honors the lives of students Asia Cottom, Bernard Brown, and Rodney Dickens, and teachers Hilda Taylor, James Debeuneure, and Sarah Clark.

“Asia was a new student at Backus Middle School. Her father worked at the school as a coach and a classroom aide. Teachers remembered Asia as kindhearted and eager to help her classmates.”

The page remembers Leckie Elementary School student Bernard, who kept teachers on their toes. Teachers remember him as a child who was showing tremendous progress, which was why he was chosen to participate in the highly selective trip. He was known for his love of basketball and had dreams of playing in the NBA. 

“Rodney always made the honor roll at Ketcham Elementary School. His mother expected him to be a role model for his two younger brothers, as his two older sisters had been for him. His favorite activity was watching professional wrestling—no matter what he was doing, ‘…he made it home to see wrestling,” his aunt said, the Facebook page notes.

All three children were 11 years old.

Hilda Taylor taught 6th grade at Leckie Elementary. She was from Sierra Leone and immigrated to the United States looking for a better life for herself and her family. She was a mother and a grandmother. 

“James Debeuneure returned to the classroom as a second career. He was a 5th grade teacher at Ketcham Elementary School. He was known for arriving early and leaving late. Mr. Debeuneure was a father of three,” the DCPS Facebook page states. 

Sarah Clark had been teaching the longest out of the three teachers. She began teaching in 1965 and taught 6th grade at Backus Middle School. Clark was a mother of two and was engaged to be married. 

“Asia, Bernard, Rodney, Hilda, James, and Sarah are forever in our hearts,” the Facebook page notes. “Our deepest sympathies remain with their families.”