ANC Commissioner Keith Sellars (5A01) passed along a copy of a touching 9/11 tribute that was shared with UDC in memory of Sara Clark and Asia Cottom, a teacher and student at the former Bertie Backus Middle School, which now houses the UDC Community College, Lamond-Riggs campus. Ms. Clark and Asia were among DC Public Schools students and teachers traveling from DC to California on September 11, 2001, for an ecology conference sponsored by the National Geographic Society. UDC recently unveiled an updated memorial in honor of the two.

The students and teachers were to be guests of the Robert J. Frank Academy in Oxnard, California for an expedition to the Channel Islands. The Frank Academy created a 25th Anniversary Memorial booklet and held a memorial ceremony in honor of the DCPS students and teachers and National Geographic Society judges who lost their lives 25 years ago.

According to UDC Community Engagement Director Juanita Gray, the original booklet and photographs from the school will be sent to the Sumner Museum DCPS Archives.

Robert J. Frank Academy Bertie Backus 9/11 Letter and Memorial Booklet