Video: Chicago Ag Students Are Home Safe from France After Terrorist Attacks

 Students and teachers from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in Mount Greenwood arrived home after a harrowing weekend in Paris following Friday’s terrorist attacks.

The group of 22 students were reunited in the VIP room at O’Hare International Airport on Monday afternoon -- and their parents had never been so happy to see their children.

“It’s been the longest weekend of my life,” parent Kathy Bennett told CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez. “This was horrible.”

The Chicago Ag students arrived Friday in Paris as part of a cultural exchange program in France. The students were herded into a room where they were staying at youth hostel just a few blocks away from the attacks.

They were told to call their parents and tell they were OK, Tellez reported.

“I looked outside and I saw everybody scattering, I saw some smoke coming up and I thought oh my God, Paris just really got attacked right now,” Ag student Jermaine Berry told the TV news reporter.

Ag principal William Hook posted a statement on the high school’s website Friday evening in Chicago, informing parents and the Mt. Greenwood community that the students were safe.

The cultural exchange program was cut short as the focus returned toward getting the students home safely.

The students say they are heartbroken for France, Tellez said.