Artist Donates 9/11 Memorial to Hoboken High

Students, school administrators and community leaders assembled in the Hoboken High School auditorium Friday morning for a ceremony honoring victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The ceremony included the unveiling of artist Raymond Smith's digital print replica of his commemorative artwork, the Hoboken Children's Memorial Flag, which he donated to the high school. The original is currently displayed in the Board of Education meeting room.

Several students participated in the ceremony, including Natasha Rivera, president of the school's Hispanic Culture Club, who read a poem, and Samantha Perkins and Gabrielle Frederick, who along with Rivera read the names of the 57 Hoboken residents who were killed in the attack.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer told the assembly her experience of watching the attack from her workplace in New York, and how she was later inspired to move to Hoboken.

“We wanted to become a part of a community, and we discovered Hoboken,” she said.

Smith discussed how he created the approximately 5 by 9 foot acrylic on canvas artwork, which features the hand prints of Hoboken residents, including eight children of 9/11 victims, laid over the American flag.

Later he told Patch about his inspiration and sentiment behind the artwork. “I process my feelings through art,” he said. “This aroused an empathetic feeling in me.”

Many of the handprints were provided by children who are now Hoboken High Students. Those students shared their memories of 9/11 and participating in the art project with the assembly.

One of those students, Natasha Rivera, told Patch she was in second grade the day of the attack. Her mother withdrew her from school and explained what had happened.

“I was confused,” Rivera said. “My mother said that some bad guys had hit the Towers. I was young but I felt sad that someone would want to do that.”

Now a senior, Rivera joined the school's as a paramedic this year. The corps, the first of its kind in the nation, emerged when school administrators wanted to build upon the surge of volunteerism that the attack aroused in the student body. The rescue squad students also appeared onstage in their paramedic uniforms.

“I've been wanting to do it,” Rivera said. “I like helping people, and it's what I want to do after I graduate.”

In addition to Zimmer, several community leaders attended the ceremony, including former Mayor David Roberts, who was in office during the attack, and his wife Anna Roberts, as well as Freeholder Anthony Romano, City Councilmembers Ravi Bhalla, Theresa Castellano and Beth Mason, and School Board members Peter Bianacamano, Carmelo Garcia, Leon Gold, Rose Marie Markle, Irene Sobolov and Maureen Sullivan.

Smith's original artwork will be featured in the at Pier A Park, Sunday at 6 p.m.