Vo-Tech students keep memory of 9/11 alive
As the nation paused last week for the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, students at the Philadelphia/Neshoba County Career Technical Center put up a banner proclaiming “We Remember Sept. 11, 2001.”
Bryton Yates, a ninth-grader at Neshoba Central, said that while he is too young to have witnessed the events of Sept. 11, 2001, he has family members who recalled watching it on television.
“A lot of stuff happened back then,” Yates said. “We’ve talked about what happened and the details in class.”
Yates said he believes Americans united after the attacks and that he has learned more about 9/11 through taking Law and Public Safety at the Vo-Tech.
Ty Martin said the banners they put up included one that said simply, “We remember Sept. 11, 2001,” with an American Flag.
“The one we put up was an American flag that had everyone’s name who had died from it,” Martin said.
“9/11 would be the day that Americans became one,” said Martin, a ninth-grade Neshoba Central High School student and chairman of the Neshoba County Teenage Republicans.
“There were no more Republicans, no Democrats, no more white, no more black, it was we are American. 9/11 was the single worst day in American history that we pretty much have ever had since Pearl Harbor. This day when Americans came together, we become one again.”
Bailey Scott, also a ninth-grader at Neshoba Central, said 9/11 left a lasting impact.
“It’s important to me because of the impact it made on the country and everyone who lost their lives during it, the people who died when the plane hit the tower,” Scott said. “It not only impacted us, it also impacted people’s families who lost loved ones in 9/11.”
Jade Lynn Rogers a ninth-grader at Neshoba Central, said her grandmother who watched 9/11 unfold on television 20 years ago told her about it.
“She said it was tragic and when I think about it it is sad because of all the people that died, and it was just so sad,” Rodgers said. “I felt like (putting the banners up) was a good way to support it and keep it alive because that’s something you don’t need to forget about.”
On 9/11, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.
Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, that might have been headed for the U.S. Capitol before passengers overtook the hijackers.
Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism, including the invasion of Iraq.