On the morning of September 11, 2001, daycare teacher Tara Jones was preparing for an ordinary Tuesday at the Children’s Discovery Daycare Center in 5 World Trade Center. Parents were dropping off their infants and toddlers when the first plane struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., instantly transforming the ordinary into chaos.
Amidst the panic and falling debris, Jones’s focus narrowed to the 28 children in her care. Their planned evacuation route led toward Building 7, but in a split-second decision, Jones opted for a lesser-used maintenance corridor. This deviation proved critical, as Building 7 later collapsed entirely.
"I thought I was gonna die," Jones told the Daily Mail. "I thought we were all gonna just die." She recalled telling the children, "It's an emergency. We have to go," a phrase they knew from drills, initially thinking it was another exercise.
The situation escalated when parents, unable to leave the complex, rushed back inside. Jones then remembered a service entrance used by maintenance workers and led the children through it. Fearing the glass-lined areas could shatter from falling debris, teachers crawled with the youngest children to safety. "Everybody was just picking up whoever couldn’t run fast enough," Jones said.
She recounted finding an abandoned double stroller and loading children into it to continue their escape. At one point, Jones and fellow teachers, including Robyn, who was eight months pregnant, paused with the children in a cemetery across from the daycare. It was there they heard the second plane strike the South Tower, confirming their fears that this was an attack.
As the daycare group fragmented in Lower Manhattan, some headed toward City Hall, others toward the pier. A group with infants managed to get shopping carts from a supermarket to push the smallest children. Jones refused to let a stranger take a child from her arms, stating, "No, lady. I can’t give you my babies."
Mary De Voe, a parent who had dropped off her daughter Alana, initially headed toward Building 7, following the daycare's emergency plan. Upon realizing the children were not there and after the second plane hit, she began to panic. De Voe eventually reunited with Jones's group and her daughter.
During the South Tower's collapse, De Voe was caught in a stampede with two children. She struggled to suppress her nausea, determined to remain strong for them. Her husband, unaware of their escape, believed they were buried, sending a pager message: "I love you."
Jones’s group eventually reached St. Clare’s Hospital. One four-year-old child drew the towers, the fire, and a falling person, demonstrating an understanding of the day's events. Jones recalled a father arriving at the hospital covered in ash, falling to his knees upon finding his child.
All 28 children were eventually reunited with their families. However, the trauma lingered. Mary De Voe's son Liam slept under his bed for fear of buildings falling, and Alana was terrified by steam from manholes. Jones herself struggled with PTSD, eventually moving from New York.
Deirdre Hogan, the former financial director of the daycare, praised the teachers' bravery. "We definitely hired the right people," Hogan said. "Despite being terrified themselves, they would have done anything for those kids."
Jones, however, deflected the label of "hero," stating she was simply doing what a teacher should do. "Those babies, they couldn’t get themselves out of the building," she said. "We had to do what we did." The ultimate measure of that morning, for Jones, remains the safety of every child in her care.