On Sept. 11, 2001, over 2,977 people lost their lives when a group of terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and an unplanned plane crash in rural Pennsylvania while en route to hit the White House. These attacks left a bruise on America; many people, military personnel, and firefighters lost their lives on that tragic day. And now, 24 years later, people are still recovering from 9/11, leaving us to remember but never forget.
Many people believe that 9/11 is a major piece of history and should never be forgotten.
“I absolutely think 9/11 should be remembered,” Principal Timothy Wormald said. “The fact that it happened on American soil, the fact so many people have lost their lives that day, and the major changes in laws and airport security that happened after that tragedy.”
However, many kids and teens don’t fully understand and remember the impact of 9/11. And some people believe that this is an issue that needs to be fixed.
“I do not believe that kids today truly understand the impact of 9/11,” disabled veteran Max Hansen said. “Unless they have a direct relative who was affected by 9/11, but for kids who were not directly affected by 9/11, I don’t feel like as a country we don’t do a good enough job of making sure that 9/11 is remembered.”
Despite this, teachers at Powell High School make sure they educate students on 9/11 to help young adults understand the impact that 9/11 has on America.
“I think 9/11 should be remembered,” English teacher Amy Moore said. “Students at PHS were born after 9/11 happened, so I think teachers have even more of a responsibility to bring it to their remembrance.”
Students and teens across America know what 9/11 is and what happened, but some adults who saw what happened think that students don’t have the best understanding of 9/11, even if they have heard the story before.
“I think as educators, it’s our job to really explain that impact,” social studies teacher Ashley Hildebrand said. “They know what happened, but they might not realize the real tragedy behind that event.”
Despite the staff’s belief in remembering 9/11, students at Powell High School feel like teachers need to do a better job at explaining the tragedy and what led up to the attacks.
“I feel like teachers need to do better at balancing the facts of human stories and what led up to the attacks,” sophomore James Berends said. “I may have an understanding of it, but it would be better for me to know about it better.”
The impact of 9/11 can still be seen and felt in our country today. However, our country seems to be becoming more and more divided all the time. Even though 9/11 was one of the worst tragedies in American history, there was one thing that came out of it. On the following day, our country was truly united. People waved and greeted each other. They put aside their differences and worked towards a common goal of healing. People dug through rubble, giving their own lives in many cases to save or at least find as many lost Americans as they could.
“On Sept.12th, American pride was at its highest point, and we need to get back to that,” Hansen said. “With as divided as our country is today, we can all use a little 9/12 back into our lives.”
The only way to get back and truly be united is to understand where we have come from these past two decades. The only way we can understand is to have the knowledge from those who remember.
