Changed by 9/11: Anthony P. Bottan, Jr.

It was my first day of classes during my sophomore year at St. John's University in Queens.

My first class wasn't until 11 a.m., so like any normal, dorm-living college student, I slept in. My best friend woke me up when the first Tower was hit, explaining it was a freak plane accident. And what was the first thing I thought to myself? 

"Are classes canceled?" How ignorant. Ten years later, I still feel guilty for even thinking of something so insensitive.

We rushed to the dorm's roof, just in time to miss the second Tower getting hit. It was then I realized this was no accident.

I wanted to know the most up-to-date information. Are people OK? Who did this? Is my dad there? My whole outlook on the situation changed in an instant.

For hours, I was glued to the TV, watching replay after replay of the attack on CNN. I wanted to know what was going on, but no one could provide me with any answers.

It was then that I realized something. I had this painful urge to know the truth, a burning hunger to know the whole story. My professor told me the next day that was the first sign of a good journalist.

That was the first time I realized that a career in journalism was in my future.