Community Corner
Remembering 9/11: St. Michael Elementary Fourth-Graders Represent the Post-9/11 Generation
Though they weren't here for the actual day, these 9 and 10-year-olds represent the post-9/11 children. Thursday, they discussed the day that "changed everything."
“What do you know about September 11, 2011?” is written across the Smart Board in Mrs. Kari Tauber’s 4th grade class at St. Michael Elementary.
“I know there’s something special about September 11, I just can’t remember what it is,” one of the girls in class says while other hands shoot to the air.
“It’s when the Twin Towers were hit,” Jake shares. Another student, Kailey, quickly follows up that “Osama bin Laden sent his people on a plane to crash and tons and tons of people died.”
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This is their version of the story. These mostly 9-year-olds weren't alive for the tragic day that, as history states, "changed everything."
They are dubbed, by some, the "9/11 Generation." They will grow up in an America that has always had things like The Deaprtment of Homeland Security and Readiness Kits.
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Their knowledge of that day is no less astounding. Just four students are 10 years old and one student, Mia, says her birthday is the day after 9/11.
“They were terrorists, and terrorists are people that attack,” Griffin shares. And then Ben adds that “Osama bin Laden used to be the most wanted terrorist.”
“What country was Osama bin Laden in when the attacks happened?” Mrs. Tauber asks the class.
The guesses range from North Korea to Russia to Asia.
“September 11 is an event that happened that we hope never happens again,” Mrs. Tauber shared. “We’re not talking about to be scared, but it’s important to talk about it.”
The class wrapped up discussion with some closing comments on who some of the heroes of that day were. “George W. Bush,” one said. Another says “the government.”
Tauber reminds them that there were many heroes that day, “firefighters, policemen, regular people everywhere.”
Teens reflected on 9/11 back in May
Now a sophomore, Matt Bird was a kindergarten student when bin Laden's plan to attack New York City and Washington D.C. unfolded on Sept. 11, 2001. He thought of that day when it was announced Osama Bin Laden had been killed last May.
Though they were young, the students remembered 9/11 well.
"I remember just being scared," Priscilla Pomeroy said. Bird added that his mother came and took him home from class.
"It's pretty amazing when you think about it," Jared Essler, STMA social studies teacher and football coach said. "This is something we've come to know in the last 10 years. It changed everything for us. For them, this has been going on their entire lives."
