BY RAEGAN NEUFELD<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When remembering the events of September 11, 2001, it\u2019s common for a majority of Americans to think about where they were and what they were doing. However, enough time has passed that a whole generation of young adults can\u2019t remember where they were or what they were doing: because they weren\u2019t even alive yet.
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For as long as the freshman class of 2025 has been learning about 9\/11, they have always had a very unique perspective. The impact that September 11 had on teachers and parents is still so prevalent and the emotions they felt are still so raw. There is probably no other historical event that today\u2019s students have a better understanding of, due to it\u2019s recency.
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Every freshman learned the same facts each year. On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the twin towers and the Pentagon, and America was forever changed.
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\u201cI learned that it was a very tragic event. It affected people individually it seems like. It wasn\u2019t necessarily something that happened in a far-off place,\u201d freshman Elizabeth Leck said.
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Jaylah Hurley mentioned learning about the changes in airport security, and how people felt about their own security in America.
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\u201cIt really made people question if they were safe. My mom told me that she remembers everyone was terrified of what was going to happen,\u201d Hurley said.
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The days that students learned about 9\/11 were very somber, and often filled with a mix of emotions. Alexis Pfannenstiel described her experiences as saddening, but also confusing at times.
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\u201cAs an American, we are definitely taught that America is a fortress and the greatest country in the world,\u201d she said.
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Pfannenstiel also mentioned the differences between the country then and the country now.
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\u201cLearning about this event deeply saddened me, but also because after 9\/11 America was whole and worked together to better our nation,\u201d Pfannenstiel said. \u201cI don’t know if America will ever be as whole again as we were after this tragic event occurred in our country.\u201d
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Leck recalled how she was more affected by the personal stories told by teachers or other adults.
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\u201cThe documentaries we watched were terrible, and they made me really sad, but when teachers or adults would talk about when they were experiencing it, that would get me more because I realized that it was something that happened directly in someone\u2019s life and it wasn\u2019t that long ago,\u201d Leck said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hurley shares Leck\u2019s sentiments regarding living through others\u2019 stories about 9\/11 as being impactful.
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\u201cFor people our age, we weren\u2019t alive, so we were just experiencing secondhand what they felt. I always felt sad that they were alive for an event that was that traumatic,\u201d Hurley said.
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The influence of 9\/11 was evident every year as students continued to learn about the events in school. As the years have passed, the students have grown to better understand the significance that September 11, 2001 had on the world we now live in. The significance is even personal in some cases.
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Pfannenstiel herself was impacted by the events of 9\/11.
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\u201cAs I’ve grown older the significance of 9\/11 has definitely changed for me,\u201d she said, \u201cAs I grew up I found out that my father decided to join the Marine Corps after watching the attacks on the twin towers. My father becoming a Marine made my parents decide to get married, and have me.\u201d
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Despite the time passed since the attacks on 9\/11, the current class of college freshmen – and everyone else who wasn\u2019t alive – will continue to remember that day and its importance to our country.
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