Florence Elementary Honor Choir to perform 9/11 tribute song in New York City

FLORENCE, Texas (KWTX) - The Florence Elementary Honor choir is about to head to the Big Apple to pay tribute to those who tragically lost their lives on 9/11.

They’ll first take the stage at Carnegie Hall, performing with about 300 other choir students from across the country.

”We’re singing some great works, some are in Czechoslovakian,” director Joe Rine said. “These are some upper level UIL works that high school students will be performing.”

While in The Big Apple Rine wanted to perform another song called “We’re Too Young to Remember,” a piece about 9/11, that wasn’t a part of the Carnegie Hall performance.

Rine wrote and composed the song himself. His choir was invited to perform at last year’s 9/11 ceremony at the Veterans Memorial in Sun City. He couldn’t find any child-appropriate 9/11 songs so he came up with “We’re Too Young to Remember.”

“I thought wouldn’t it be great to sing this at the 9/11 memorial,” Rine said. “But I found out that you can’t sing at the 9/11 memorial because it’s a cemetery. So we asked can we sing it at a fire station so I sent our request and video up to a local fire department.”

The song ended up striking a chord with New York City councilwoman Joann Ariola and will now be performed at a special ceremony in front of New York City Hall.

”I’m happy that I get to do this,” 5th grader Geneva Williams said. “My uncle is a Texas Ranger and he wasn’t at 9/11, but it was still super scary for the people in my family.”

The song will be performed in front of New York firefighters and police officers as well as city leaders like Mayor Eric Adams.

”I’m doing it for certain people that I know,” 5th grader Harper Sinclair said. “It makes me happy to think about my grandfather. My grandfather was a Purple Heart recipient in the Vietnam War. When I go to see him on the weekends I think about the song and it makes me really happy.”

It’s a tune that resonates with the young singers and will soon resonate with the entire city of New York.

“I don’t want the audience members to just look at students,” Rine said. “I want them to see America. You have a message. Our gift to New York is this song.”

After their big performance, Florence Elementary Honor Choir students will visit the 9/11 museum. That’s where they’ll put paper roses in the grave markers at the Ground Zero Memorial Pool.

”We’re Too Young to Remember” will be sung by a children’s choir at this year’s 9/11 ceremony in September in New York City.