Youths tie ribbons to mark 9/11
<p>Teacher Kristyn Morin helps juniors Shea Stevens, left, and Sara Burch as they make red, white and blue memorial ribbons on Wednesday morning. Several of Morin’s history students are working on projects commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.</p>
Most adults can vividly recall where they were, how they felt and the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, but for younger generations the memory is fainter.
U.S. history students at Glacier High School are doing their part to memorialize Sept. 11 by raising donations to plant a tree.
To raise money, social studies teacher Kristyn Morin’s U.S. history students are making red, white and blue ribbons to hand out in exchange for donations.
Spectators at Friday night’s football game will have a chance to donate to the school’s $500 goal for purchasing a tree. Morin also asked that everyone wear red, white and blue on Friday.
Morin said she hoped the tree would be a reminder to all generations, but most importantly for younger generations that will become more reliant on textbooks and documentaries to learn about what 9/11 means.
“My daughter is student-teaching right now — fifth grade — she asked them about 9/11 and they all looked at her with this blank look … they said, ‘It’s the number you call in an emergency,’” Morin said.
On Wednesday morning, Morin’s U.S. history class watched a short feature about 9/11.
She asked the students where they were that day. Most current high school juniors were 5- or 6-year-olds in first or second grade.
Junior Sara Sampey, 15, was living in Pennsylvania. After United Airlines Flight 93 crashed, she recalled, her father, Scott, a paramedic, was a responder at the site while Sampey was in school.
“I was really scared. My mom came and got me as soon as she found out [what happened]. It was really silent outside. They had to evacuate all the buildings and schools,” Sampey said.
Like many students Sampey’s age, it was not until she was 10 or 11 years old that she grasped the extent of the tragedy.
“As time goes on people tend to forget and it’s not something that should be forgotten,” she said.
Sixteen-year-old Courtney Pitts remembered her school going on lockdown.
“There were parents outside waiting and no one was letting anybody in. I remember when I got home my mom was just crying, she was so scared,” Pitts said. “We had no idea what was going on.”
As 16-year-old Stanley Ortel tied red, white and blue ribbons, he recalled how he felt that day. The morning of Sept. 11, Ortel was in school where everyone was glued to televisions as events unfolded.
“It completely changed our country and how we do things, our security and everything like that because now we know that there’s people who can and will do that type of stuff to us and we need to be ready,” Ortel said.
For more information on how to donate, call Glacier High School at (406) 758-8600.
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.