DAVIE, Fla. – Students at Western High School in Davie honored the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, with a ceremony at the memorial they built on campus 19 years ago.
On Friday, students honored the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York City, as well as the United Airlines Flight 93 attack in Pennsylvania, with their annual We Will Never Forget ceremony.
The ceremony featured Western High JROTC, choral singers, local fire departments and law enforcement, the Student Government Association, and student musicians.
However, these teens were not alive in 2001, and most of them learned about the attack on 9/11 later in life. Student government president Maria Sánchez says she first learned about 9/11 at the age of six from a magazine.
“I was, well, I wasn’t there, but it really touched my heart,” says Sánchez.
The school also placed a wreath at the base of an American flag on campus, which was lowered to half staff on Friday.
The memorial was the first permanent 9/11 memorial built in the United States, according to school principal Jimmy Arrojo.
Back in 2002, Local 10 News captured the moment the student-designed memorial was unveiled on campus. It features two towers within a pentagon shape, with the flag pole rising from an imprint of the state of Pennsylvania — all representative of where the four hijacked planes crashed and killed thousands 20 years ago.
“Western High has honored its pledge to never forget,” says Arrojo. “It changed our world. God bless America!”