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The Memorial & Museum provides a greater understanding of what happened on September, 11th.
That’s especially true for children who weren’t even born yet. Alice Gainer spoke with students about their experience at the site in Lower Manhattan.
“My parents didn’t really talk about it, and I didn’t ask,” said Cameron Kretzschmar, of Oregon.
“We learned about it a few times, like on an anniversary and stuff,” said Will Stasik, of Michigan.
Their classrooms, in many cases thousands of miles from Ground Zero, had been the only places where they learned about the attacks.
“They only show videos and give us a little homework about it,” said Anika Shukla, of Connecticut.
“How different it is than in school. All the firetrucks and stuff… that got crushed during it,” said Aaron Degray, of Rochester. “I was sad and just like, why did they do it?”
“I kind of felt like crying because it was really sad and it was really quiet inside,” said Avani Shukla, of Connecticut.
“She got herself a golden ring in remembrance of surviving that first attack and it was found in the remains,” Kretzschmar said. “I think that’s what hit me hardest the most.”
“I was like, ‘Wow, what happened?’ I was really sad,” said Avika Gupta, from Seattle.
“You realize what people went through to try to save people in the towers and how many people lost their lives doing their job in the line of duty,” said Pyle.
The student’s Gainer spoke with said, after visiting the site, marking the attacks years later means more to them.
“I wasn’t really expecting it to hit me as hard as it did when I went in there,” Kretzschmar said.
“You’re not outside looking in anymore. You’ve been to that location and you almost feel, even though I wasn’t even alive at the time, it’s much more of a connection to it and much more of solemn respect for the people here,” Pyle said.
These students, despite not being alive at the time, vowed to never forget after seeing the exhibits, footage, and artifacts.