The Second Day

On September 11, 2001, 4 year-old Brook Peters was attending his second day of kindergarten a few blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City when two planes struck the Twin Towers. At age 11, Brook decided to make a film about that fateful day and its aftermath to give his fellow students and teachers at Ground Zero area schools a chance to share with the world their experiences. The Second Day is his touching and inspirational documentary, completed when he was 14. The film provides a unique and hopeful perspective on 9/11 through the eyes of young people and educators who lived through it. Brook's life, like that of so many others, was shaped by what he saw and felt on September 11. As his mother raced from Ground Zero with Brook on her shoulder, he watched as one of the Towers fell. Brook also lost a number of firefighter friends that day who he grew up around. In the film, classmates, teachers, counselors and firefighters reflect back on what they personally saw and felt on 9/11, how they coped in the days that followed, and what they learned from the experience. Ten years later, they found there were a number of positive lessons to share: people posses an inner strength and resilience that can overcome tragedies and hard times; in times of need people help and support each other in unexpected ways; and by connecting with others, we need not live our lives in fear and terror.